Cornhuskers end inaugural ball season

July 30, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

It may not have been exactly the season they wanted, but the Nobleton Cornhuskers take solace in the fact that their inaugural season in the North Dufferin Baseball League was a stepping stone to greater things.
The “Huskers” finished second last in the 14-team league with a 5-20-1 record, but have a good solid core of players and said they are hoping to be back in Nobleton for next season.
“Well, it was the first year and we had a lot of rebuilding,” said first baseman Steve Boric. “It was the first time for a lot of us in this league, so a lot of us didn’t know what to expect, so we were all coming out here for the last couple of games and just having a bit of fun, try our best and get a couple ‘Ws’ under our belt.”
After starting the season with a few wins and ties, the Cornhuskers hit a skid that pushed them out of playoff contention for good.
However, it didn’t stop them from trying to go out on a high note as they notched commanding wins against Angus (11-1) and Lisle (7-0), while losing some tight matches as well.
What it showed the Cornhuskers was that with a little fine tuning and practice they can compete with the any team in the league.
“We had a nice 7-0 win over Lisle,” said Boric. “They are a team we can compete with in this league and we showed that.”
Starting first baseman Dan Rees agreed and said the team knows what needs to be done to succeed next year.
“For our first season, I think we were pretty strong,” he said. “We could have used a bit more practice, but that’s just the whole thing, you’ve got to have everyone working as a group. I feel like if we’d had a few more practices and meshed more as a team; we probably could have taken a lot more of these games and been in the playoffs.”
Rees said he was happy that the season ended the way it did and praised his team for banding together in a big win over Lisle.
“The win felt good,” he said. “We played hard and it was just one of those games where we all came to play. We had some good batting practice before the game, put the bat on the ball and things happened. It was just one of those games where things went well.”
For their last game of the season, Nobleton headed north to Mansfield to face the Cubs. Despite a strong performance by pitcher Eric Jones (as per usual), the Cornhuskers were unable to muster any offence against a lights out showing by Cubs pitcher Tyler Linger.
In the end, the Cornhuskers swallowed the 4-1 loss and set their sights on next season.
“It was a good season, but honestly I had much bigger hopes for us,” said Jones. “I thought we would finish a little higher than where we ended up, but at this point we’re just glad that we won’t come in last.”