The St. Thomas of Villanova Wildcats have won another league championship and are looking to win some more.
The Wildcats captured their third consecutive WECSSAA title last Wednesday, defeating the St. Anne Saints 10-7 in the finals. Villanova was undefeated in the regular season, going 7-0 in the Cullen/Soulliere Division before winning all five playoff games in their tournament.
Other teams the Wildcats knocked off in their tournament were Leamington, Belle River, Riverside (who also went 7-0 in the regular season) and the Saints twice.
“We also came into the season with the goal to win WECSSSAA,” said Villanova head coach Wes Langlois.
Langlois said they have a lot of new players this season, but they played well with a group of new players.
“We graduated 11 seniors last year, which was a big deal,” said Langlois.
There were a lot of quality players that graduated last year, but the players that joined the program kept the winning going.
“We reloaded,” said Langlois. “We’re very young but still had a great season overall.”
The regular season “was a grind,” and included some mistakes in games due to younger players, Langlois stated, but they overcame whatever obstacles they faced.
“It was a battle but we still managed to win WECSSAA for the third straight season,” said Langlois. “We’re young so we still made some young team mistakes.”The good outweighed whatever mistakes they made, with Langlois stating the pitching was strong and the hitting came alive.
“The bats were explosive and better than I anticipated,” he said.
The playoff tournament and its five games for Villanova were played over two days. Their first two games were played in Tecumseh before heading to Mic Mac Park in Windsor where they finished the job.
“WECSSAA is tough,” said Langlois. “Trying to get out of there is extremely tough.”
Langlois added it was an entire team effort to win the championship, stating there are no individual players that stand out over the rest. He said they have gone 21-0 in WECSSAA over the last three years and finished second at OFSAA last season. He said they need good players throughout the lineup to do that.
“Bench players are very important to our team,” he said.
This year’s 20-man roster has four Grade 12 players, ten Grade 9 and 10 players and six Grade 11 players.
“We return the bulk of our team next season,” said Langlois, believing much of the local competition is in the same boat.
Langlois said this is his first year as head coach, taking over from Tom Beale.
Langlois credited his predecessor for his contributions to the Villanova baseball program.
“I was with him for five full seasons,” said Langlois. “We really owe a lot of our success to Tom. I’ve learned a ton just being around him.”
Villanova played St. Pat’s of Sarnia in Lambton County for the SWOSSAA championship game yesterday (Tuesday, May 28) at Blackwell Park in Sarnia after this issue of the River Town Times went to press.
Villanova captures third consecutive WECSSAA baseball championship
By Ron Giofu
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