For the first time in franchise history, the Listowel Legionnaires are Midwestern Ontario Senior Baseball League champs.
Listowel lost in the championship game the last 3 years running, finally getting over the hurdle after beating the Byron Storm 9-7 Monday night. Team owner Chris Kurz says finally winning is a great achievement.
"Really proud of the guys tonight, really proud of the community and the fan base here in Listowel for coming out and supporting the guys. Also I want to compliment the Byron Storm, the turnaround season they had this year, it was a phenomenal tournament."
The Legionnaires beat the Kincardine Cubs in the semis before taking down the Storm, coming back from deficits of 2-0 and 7-6 to clinch the title. A huge 6th inning saw the Legionnaires score 3 runs down 7-6 to take the lead for good, as Byron went 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 7th to end it.
Kurz says to finally win is extremely rewarding, especially given all that the team had to sacrifice to make it that far.
"We've put a lot of work into this, the players they have a lot of stuff going on in their lives outside of baseball with work and families, so to commit at the senior level there's a lot that goes into that and a lot that people don't know about. I couldn't be more proud of the guys."
And Kurz says to win it all at home is very special. "Just to play the game at home was awesome, it was great for the guys to be in their home setting with our fans and the guys and girls at the Legion. There's a lot of good things going on with baseball here in Listowel, and we're really proud of it."
Listowel will now rest up and shift their focus to the OBA tournament this weekend.
The Listowel Legionnaires shake hands with the Byron Storm after Listowel won their first ever MOSBL title, beating Byron 9-7 in Listowel. August 26th, 2019 (Photo by Ryan Drury)
@Da_Legionnaires win their first ever MOSBL Championship over the Byron Storm 9-7 tonight. Congrats to the guys on a great year. Best of luck in the OBA’s this weekend! pic.twitter.com/lOqMHhNndb
— Ryan Drury (@CKNX_Drury) August 27, 2019