The Hamilton midget AAA Cardinals finished 2-2 at the Baseball Ontario elimination tournament in Burlington last month and will not move on to the national championships.

Game one of the tournament on June 27 saw the Cards edge the Burlington Bulls 4-3 at Nelson Park. Hamilton got on the board first with two runs in the opening stanza. Steven Hubbs and Darnell Duckett both hit singles and with two out, Brett Barrowclough doubled to bring them home. With one away in the second Travis Flint walked and stole second, scoring on a Hubbs double.

Cards starter Zack Ranta helped his own cause when he singled in Hubbs to give the Hamilton side a 4-0 lead. Ranta turned the ball over to Hubbs and Matt Hill in relief and they were steady enough to hold the fort, with Hill nailing down the save in the Hamilton win.

Hamilton dropped a 5-0 decision to the Toronto Mets in game two on June 28. The Mets scored all their runs in the second inning as the Cards made two errors. Hamilton's only hits in the game were singles by Eric Johnson and Devon Blainey.

The Cards bounced back June 29 with a 4-3 win over the Ireland Park London Badgers. Mike Gottschalk got the nod on the hill for game three and trailing by a 1-0 score in the fifth inning the Cardinals get a rally going. With one away, Flint took a fastball in the back and moved to first. Hubbs followed with a mammoth home run to left field to put the Cards in the lead.

Hamilton scored two more runs while Hill and Ranta came on in relief, allowing two more runs in the Cardinals' victory.

Game four saw the Cards falls 4-0 to the Mississauga Tigers.

In OBA action July 2 at London's Labatt Park, the Cards were hammered 11-1 by the London Badgers.

The Cardinals came back with a 12-0 win over Cambridge in OBA actin the flowing day at Heritage Green Park.

Mike Gottschalk threw six shut-out innings, striking out 11 and surrendering one hit. Derek Bergstrand came in to finish up the game. The Cards offense was led by three RBI from Shane Southall and a pair of RBI from Travis Flint, Eric Johnson and Damon DiCenzo.

The Cards were slated to host Stratford in a doubleheader yesterday (July10) at Mahony Park. Hamilton travels to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania later this month to take part in the USSA national championship, held July 26 to 27.

Pee wees win

The Hamilton major pee wee Cardinals edged the host Waterloo Tigers 5-4 July 7.

After taking a quick 2-0 first inning lead on an RBI double by Cole Petsche and an RBI single by Marcus Dicenzo, the Hamilton bats fell silent. Fortunately for the Cards, starting pitcher Mitch Gardiner was able to keep the game within reach as Hamilton trailed 4-2 going into the last inning.

An RBI single by Devin Holmes and a spectacular suicide squeeze bunt by Theo Chan tied the game for the Cardinals and Ryan Hare plated the winning run. Marcus Dicenzo was the winning pitcher in relief.