Burnaby’s Lucas Naidu had two hits and two key putouts in the final inning to help the North Delta Blue Jays win the B.C. Junior Premier Baseball League championship title in Victoria on Aug. 10.
The Blue Jays shortstop sealed North Delta’s 2-1 victory over the North Shore Twins Carson Ho of Alpha and Steven Moretto of Notre Dame in the playoff final throwing the batter out at first base on a routine ground ball to end the final inning.
“It was my first provincial championship in PBL,” said Naidu, who also won a provincial and Western Canadian title with Burnaby Minor in his first year of peewee ball.
Naidu, who is going into Grade 12 at Cariboo Hill this fall, finished the provincial tournament batting .357, while the Blue Jays won all five games they played in the post season, including a 3-2 victory over the Whalley Chiefs to advance to the final.
North Delta also eked out a 2-1 win over the Nanaimo Pirates to keep its perfect record intact.
“We had some really big hits at the end of the games. One was a walkoff (single). Alex Davis got the hit,” said Naidu.
Earlier in the month, Dakota Curry hit a walkoff double to give the Langley Blaze a 4-3 victory over the Twins in the PBL midget final in Surrey.
Burnaby’s Anthony Cusati had two hits and scored a run for North Shore, while Twins’ teammate Nick Favaro also added a hit in the final game.
Cusati and Favaro led the Twins in batting at the provincials with .394 and .385 averages, respectively.
Favaro was also named to the PBL first team as a catcher.
Ryan Matsuda of Burnaby was named the league’s most valuable player. The former Vancouver Cannons first all-star pitcher led the PBL with nine wins and five shutouts last season.
In other PBL news, the league revoked the membership of the New Westminster-based Vancouver Cannons junior and senior teams on Aug. 12. The City of New Westminster and Vancouver Whitecaps FC recently signed a memorandum of understanding to turn Queen’s Park Stadium into a dedicated soccer venue that would accommodate a United Soccer League franchise.
The PBL requires all teams have access to permanent facilities in order to support a full league schedule and all team practices.
