Matthew Reyes batted .414 in the regular season to lead the B.C. Junior Premier Baseball League and also topped the tables with 46 hits and was second with 31 RBI. In the playoffs earlier this month, the 15-year-old Templeton student had a lesser average of .333 but nonetheless delivered five hits and scored seven runs to help the North Shore Twins to their first B.C. championship in league history.
Competing earlier this month in Langley at McLeod Athletic Park, the Twins dropped only one game, but the loss forced a must-win match against the Abbotsford Cardinals and then, advancing 8-1, they faced three consecutive do-or-die games, all on Aug. 11.
"Winning three games in a day can be intimidating," said the club’s head coach Parker Kynoch in a news release. "The guys did a good job of staying in the moment pitch to pitch and really supported one another."
In the semifinal Sunday afternoon, the Twins met the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Cannons, who opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd to lead by a single run. Nicholas Carusi smacked a triple and was then brought home by Isaac Greer. The Twins answered immediately. Alex Owen scored on a double by Braeden Toikka, who then rounded the bases to score and give the Twins a 3-1 lead after 3 innings. The Cannons came close when Zach Chaba scored in the 5th but the Twins held their slim 3-2 lead to advance to the final against the host Langley Blaze.
The Twins momentum carried into the first inning of the final where they scored t here runs and then added two more in the second to cruise to a 7-2 championship win. Will McAffer pitched a complete five-hit game with nine strikeouts.
Reyes was joined on the roster by Vancouverites Robert Hemer, who attends St. George’s, and Matthew Woo, an International Baccalaureate student at Stratford Hall.
