Down 1-0, The Bulls U11 Answered. Then Answered Again. Then Stole Home.

Emmett Bassendale's bases-clearing triple lit the fuse. Brody Smeltzer's shutout inning held the line. Owen Kong's steal of home put the bow on a 9-4 Haldimand Bulls win over the Ayr Junior Vics.

By Hometown Sports Network // Jarvis, Ontario

The Haldimand Bulls U11 have a habit this season of making things interesting.

You'd think a team coming off a runner-up finish at the Wilmot Spring Showcase, four wins in five games to open their season, would walk into a regular-season home matchup and put the visitors away early.

That's not how this team plays it.

The Bulls let the Ayr Junior Vics draw first blood. They let them hang around. They waited until the fourth inning to flex. And then, when the game tightened back up in the fifth, they did what good teams do.

They stole home.

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The U11 Bulls are heading to Cobourg in August for Provincials. The U11 Heat just got back from UTM. Every kid in a Haldimand County jersey this summer has a parent who's quietly stretching the family budget to make it happen.

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Ayr got on the board first.

Top of the second inning, Nate Vanderhorst stole second base, made his way to third, and then came around to score on a pair of throwing errors by the Bulls infield. The kind of run that doesn't feel like a real run until you look up at the scoreboard.

1-0 Junior Vics.

For two innings, that was the story. Ayr was working the bases. The Bulls were pressing a little. The Junior Vics dugout was loud.

Then came the bottom of the fourth.

Brody Smeltzer stepped into the box with Aston Roundtree standing on second base. Smeltzer punched a single up the middle that brought Roundtree all the way home.

1-1.

The Bulls dugout exhaled. The Junior Vics dugout quieted down. The game was reset.

Then Emmett Bassendale walked up to the plate.

What happened next is the kind of at-bat that ends up on a highlight reel.

With two runners on base, Bassendale ripped a ball into the right field corner that bounced and rolled and kept rolling. Two runs scored. Then Bassendale himself came around to score on the play.

A three-run triple. Inside-the-park. From a kid who's eleven years old.

4-1 Bulls.

But the Bulls weren't done in that inning.

Jace Willington followed with a hard ground ball that went through the legs of Ayr's Logan Pierce, getting him on base. A couple of pitches later, Willington stole third, and on a throwing error by the Junior Vics, he came around to score.

5-1 Bulls.

A 1-0 deficit had turned into a 5-1 lead in one inning.

The Junior Vics dugout was looking for an answer.

To Ayr's credit, they found one.

In the top of the fifth, Finn Garland hit a ball into deep center field that kept rolling all the way to the fence. Two runs scored. And then Garland himself, hustling around the bases, came home on a throwing error by the Bulls.

Just like that, it was a one-run game.

5-4 Bulls.

The Junior Vics had their tying run a base hit away. The Bulls had two innings left to find a way to close it out.

That's when the top of the sixth inning happened. And that's when Brody Smeltzer walked back out to the mound.

Smeltzer, who had already driven in the tying run in the fourth, took the ball with the lead on the line and threw a shutout inning. Three outs, no damage, no give.

The kind of inning a coach will remember at the end of the season.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bulls put the game away.

It started with Owen Kong on third base, with the kind of lead off the bag that gets a third baseman's attention. Then Kong saw his window.

He took off for home.

He made it.

OWEN KING, ON STEALING HOME

"It was just a really tight game and it was really intense. It was just really tight, and it's fun when it's tight like that."

That's what eleven looks like when it's at its best. A kid who plays the game because tight games are fun. Not stressful. Not nerve-wracking. Fun.

A few batters later, Brody Spencer added an insurance RBI single, and the Bulls tacked on a couple more before the inning was over. Final score, 9-4 Bulls.

A team that went down 1-0 in the second came back to win by five.

We asked him what his favourite part of the day was. His answer was the kind of two-word response that tells you exactly what kind of kid he is.

BRODY SMELTSER

"When I pitched and hit."

That's it. That's the whole answer.

When you can pitch the inning that holds your team's lead AND drive in your team's tying run on the same Saturday, that's a day you're going to be talking about for a while.

We asked Brody who taught him to play fastball.

"My dad."

A whole story in two words.

The Heat U11 article we ran a couple weeks back had a quote that landed the same way. An eleven-year-old kid named Jordan, telling us her dad played for Team Canada, and what she remembers is being made to restart when she didn't do something right.

That's the same household. Different team, different sport, different name on the back of the jersey. Same dad, in spirit. Same kid, in spirit.

Then we caught up with John, one of the Bulls coaches, and we asked him what won't show up on the scoreboard from this game.

COACH JOHN, U11 BULLS

"I think just the way we ran the bases. I think the guys did a really good job of being aggressive on the bases and they didn't hesitate. They hustled every time."

You could see it all afternoon. Willington stealing third. Kong stealing home. The Bulls weren't waiting for hits to win the game. They were taking the bases when the chances were there.

When we asked Coach John who on the team doesn't get enough credit, he didn't hesitate either.

MASON HARTWICK, OUTFIELDER

"Mason Harwick does a great job in the outfield. He's covering on every ball. Every time a throw's down there, he's always hustling in and making sure he's behind. Backing up the play."

That's the kid every coach in every dugout in Haldimand County has on their team somewhere. The outfielder who's three steps closer to every play than he needs to be. The backup behind the backup. The kid who saves a run nobody notices because nothing bad happens.

Mason Hartwick is the reason this team gets to win these games.

But the answer that hit hardest came when we asked Coach John about a volunteer who keeps the team running but doesn't get enough credit.

He smiled.

"Can I say all the moms? I think all the moms do a great job. They're the ones that do all the behind-the-scenes work, and we couldn't do it without them."

To every mom in the Bulls dugout, on the bleachers, in the parking lot, on the way to Cobourg this August.

The team coach said it best. They couldn't do it without you.

You're seen.

Here's what this game was really about.

The Haldimand Bulls U11 are putting together a season. A real one. Runner-up at Wilmot. A regular-season win in Jarvis. Provincials in Cobourg coming up in August.

Emmett Bassendale ripped a bases-clearing triple. Brody Smeltzer drove in the tying run and pitched a shutout inning. Owen Kong stole home. Jace Willington was a menace on the basepaths. Aston Roundtree scored the first run of the comeback. Brody Spencer added insurance. Mason Harwick was in the right spot all day.

The kids made plays. The coach made the calls. The moms made it possible.

That's a hometown team.

The Bulls are back in action soon. We'll be there. Mic in hand.

Got a kid playing? A coach making a difference? A volunteer holding it all together? Reach out at hometownsportsnetwork.ca. We want to hear about it.

HOMETOWN SPORTS NETWORK

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