Windsor Stars are dominant senior elimination stars

The Windsor Stars didn’t trail once … running the table, outscoring the opposition 61-4 going 6-0 at the senior eliminations.

August 12, 2023

Windsor Stars capture Ontario elimintation title

By Dan Estey

COBA Major

The Windsor Stars captured their second straight Ontario elimination tournament at Cullen Field in Windsor. The Stars completed one of the most dominant runs in recent history as they defeated the Newmarket Hawks of the GTBL 6-0. That final score matched Windsor’s record ... 6-0 for the weekend. They were able to score 61 runs on offence while only allowing four.

What the Stars, coached by Ron Smith, have been able to accomplish at the eliminations going back into last year, is nothing short of amazing. Combined over the course of the two years, they have put together a staggering 12-1 record against some of the best teams in the province.

Add to that a Canadian championship -- a 5-3 win over a tough Dartmouth Mosseheads club in Sydney, N.S. in 2021. They will be back in Red Deer, Alta. this year looking to defend their title.

The Stars didn’t trail once in this year’s edition of the provincials. It was most impressive performances I have seen at the eliminations in a long time. They are the first repeat winner of this tournament since the Tecumseh Thunder won five in a row from 2014-18.

The Stars will now head west for the nationals Aug. 24-27. They’ll face the host Red Deer Riggers, Nova Scotia (Kentville Wildcats), Quebec (Quebec All-Stars) and Newfoundland (Conception Bay Raiders) in the round robin. The quarter-finals run Saturday night with the semi-finals and medal games running all day Sunday.

Tournament schedule, results and live stream can be viewed here.

The Stars got this year’s tourney going with a 14-0 win over the Erindale Cardinals from the COBA Major League. Veteran righty Jack Zimmerman started for Windsor and collected the win. Adam Lamoureaux took the loss.

With the win, the Stars then matched up against the Ajax Spartans Friday at Cullen Field. They once again had their offence on full display as they won 12-0 score. Noah Richardson was the beneficiary of all the runs in this game grabbing the win on the mound. Brad Binns took the loss for Ajax.

With a 2-0 record, Windsor ventured into Day 2 of the tournament and against the Leaside Leafs of the GTBL who were also 2-0 after Friday. It was a new day but the bats didn’t cool down any for the Stars as they belted out 15 hits in a 13-2 win over the Leafs. Kimani Bailey collected the win for Windsor in this game while veteran Leafs hurler Jorge Frugoni took the loss. The win pushed the Stars record to 3-0 and gave them a bye through the evening into Sunday morning.

Day 3 saw Windsor kick off their day against the Sarnia Brigade of the SWSBL. This was a re-match of the provincial final from last year as well as the Vaughan tournament final from earlier this season which Windsor won by a score of 9-4. This was another tightly contested game as the Stars managed to push across a few runs late and pulled out a 6-2 win in this game. Josh Shepley went the distance for Windsor grabbing the win while Nick George was the hard luck loser for Sarnia.

With the win the Stars were 4-0 and grabbed a bye to the final five on Sunday afternoon. The Stars were set to play that night but rains swept through the Windsor area and wiped out all the action for the rest of the evening. The Newmarket/East York game made it into the fifth inning before it was also wiped out by rain.

Championship Monday started off with the Stars grabbing a re-match against Sarnia with the winner to face Newmarket in the next game. The Stars held a slight edge in this game early but stepped on the gas as the game went on as they took this game by a score of 10-0 running their record to 5-0. Noah Pickering started and picked up the win in this game with veteran southpaw Dane Little pitching the last inning in relief.

This set up the championship final where the Stars met the Newmarket Hawks with Windsor needing to be defeated twice. The Stars opened the scoring plating a pair of runs in the third for a 2-0 lead. They kept the pressure on next inning as they scored four more runs for a 6-0 lead. That would be all of the help starting pitcher Chris Renaud would need as he cruised to the win firing a three-hit complete game. Dan Lehmkuhl took the tough loss for the Hawks.

After a tough loss to the Windsor Athletics in their opening round game 11-7, the Hawks rattled off four straight wins over Tecumseh, Windsor A’s, Erindale and East York before bowing out to Windsor in the final.