WHITBY -- Another lacklustre start to a game has left the Whitby Warriors in a rather uncomfortable position.
Tuesday night in Game 2 of their OLA Junior A league semifinal, the Warriors were looking to avenge a Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Six Nations Arrows.
They were determined to come out stronger than in the first game when they fell behind by three after 20 minutes.
However, Tuesday, they dug an even deeper hole as they trailed by a 7-2 count after the first period in what turned out to be a 9-6 Arrows win, giving them a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 Thursday night at Six Nations.
Afterwards, McComb admitted that another flat start cost them a victory.
“I think it was the difference in the game obviously,” he said. “I think after those first five minutes, we dominated the game. When you get into a 5-0 hole it’s pretty tough to fight back against one of the top teams in the league.
“I thought we did a great job as a group of staying with it and playing hard. I really thought we almost deserved a better fate tonight. We had a tonne of chances, we outshot them, hit a tonne of posts. It easily could have been our game, but it’s not and we’re in a bit of a hole now down 2-0.”
If the Warriors do indeed have any designs on winning four of the next five games, then they must enter Game 3 with the hope of building on the last two periods where they did in fact, control most of the play.
“We’ve got to look past that right now,” said Warriors forward Zack Greer of the team’s second straight lethargic start. “If we keep dwelling on the past, dwelling on that rough start in the first two games it is going to haunt us in the end. We’ve got to key on the last 40 minutes where we outplayed them and out-scored them. That’s our focus for Game 3.”
“Two games is nothing with this team,” he added. “We’ve got the guys, we’ve got the leadership to get through it so we’ve got to come out ready to play. It’s going to be a big one, Game 3.”
Greer and Kyle O’Brien each had a pair of goals and an assist Tuesday, while single tallies were provided by Nick Carson and Matt Savoie.
Intercounty Baseball League
The Oshawa Dodgers again gave the Toronto Maple Leafs all they could handle at Kinsmen Stadium Tuesday night, however, this time around it wasn’t enough to eke out a victory.
A two-run bottom of the third inning gave the Dodgers a one run lead that they would carry into the sixth, but the Maple Leafs plated two of their own to gain the lead, never looking back en route to a 3-2 victory and a 3-1 series advantage heading into tonight’s Game 4 at Christie Pits in Toronto.
Scott Kelly took the loss for the Dodgers despite pitching eight solid innings.
Should the Dodgers manage to extend the series with a win tonight in Toronto, Game 6 is slated for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Kinsmen Stadium.