Among the Cedars

With a pair of recent wins under his belt, Morrisburg boxer, Phil Hoftyzer says he is back and hopes to fight on a more regular basis.

After an injury last May which prevented him from training Hoftyzer says, “I kind of fell out of it.”

However, he is back training on a regular basis at Champs Eastside Boxing Club in Cornwall and the Beaver Boxing Club in Ottawa.

On Saturday, May 4, Hoftyzer, 26, participated in the third annual Help Knockout the Effect of Hunger fundraiser, which was expected to raise over $40,000 for the Agapé Centre, Cornwall, along with some of the proceeds earmarked for the Champs Club.

On the Saturday ticket, Hoftyzer won the co-main event over Shayne Brindle of Plessisville, Quebec, on a TKO when the referee stopped the contest in the first round.

At this point Hoftyzer had put Brindle to his knees twice with left hooks to the body. Then a flurry in the corner finished the fight.

For his effort, Hoftyzer was awarded the most outstanding fighter of the night.

Presented by BMO Nesbitt Bruns at the Best Western Plus Parkway Inn in Cornwall, the evening included seven amateur bouts.

Hoftyzer’s win was in the senior men’s open light-heavyweight division.

“It was a corporate event and it raised a lot of money for a good cause,” said Hoftyzer. “It’s a really nice venue.”

On April 19 in Ottawa, at the Big Fight Night in Little Italy, Hoftyzer won in a split decision over Brutus Payant in his first fight in almost a full year.

“It was a very close fight, and Brutus was extremely aggressive,” says Hoftyzer explaining it wax his ring control and counter punches that helped him to the gain the edge.

After recovering from an injury last May, Hoftyzer returned to the ring, but in December he was again forced to take time out due to injury.

He is now healthy and working hard and training regularly with the hope of fighting “at least once a month.”

[…]

It’s been 16 years since a Morrisburg Little Rocks team had their names etched on the Big Four Trophy, and it ended here on Saturday, February 28.

There was absolutely no question that the 16-year drought was going to end late Saturday afternoon, when not just one but two Morrisburg Little Rock foursomes worked their way into the championship final with undefeated records.

The Big Four is a four-club bonspiel with each of the four clubs from Metcalfe, Russell, Winchester and Morrisburg, putting two teams on the ice and each hosting the event on a rotating basis from year to year. 

The action for the 2015 final was exciting as the two Morrisburg teams went to work for the championship. In the end, it went to skips rocks and the team of Ewan Wilson, Nolan Belanger, Josh Broad and J.J. Charette won the championship.   

“It was an awesome experience to have both Morrisburg teams in the finals,” says Little Rocks program coordinator Ian Wilson.  “This is the first time in this century Morrisburg has won this event.”  

The runner-ups were Jody Robinson, Kyra Lewis, Rhiannon Beckstead and Alexis Grenkie. 

The championship final started off with the first end being blanked. The Wilson rink then took two in the second.

Robinson got one back in the third and stole the fourth end for one (she had a chance to win it). That sent it to skips rock for the decision.

“We were going to let it stay tied, but the kids said no, they wanted to finish it,” says Ian Wilson explaining that six end games were played in the preliminary games and the final was a four-ender. 

The Wilson rink defeated Metcalfe 8-1 and Winchester 6-1 to get to the final.

The Robinson rink defeated Russell 5-3 and Metcalfe 5-1 to earn their spot in the final.

“It was a pretty exciting day,” says Ian Wilson. “It’s is great for our program to see these kids curling so well.”

[…]

For fans who love good baseball and exciting games, there was no where better to be the weekend of May 25-27, 2012, than at the Williamsburg Ball Diamond taking in the Casey At Bat Memorial Fastpitch Tournament. 

Organized by Lyle Schell and the Schell family, this was the 9th tournament held at Williamsburg.The Tournament (named for Casey Schell) this year honoured the memory of Lyle’s mother, Joanie Schell. The home team, the Williamsburg Cigars, wore shirts which proclaimed on the back, Joanie’s Way: All or Nothing. 

The proceeds from the tournament, $1,000, are all going to Hospice Care.

The Cigars fielded 10 players. “I made the calls about two months ago,” Schell said, “and we basically all got together here on Friday night. Pretty great results for a team that didn’t actually practice,” he said of his team which made it to the championship final.

Eight teams entered this year. They included, in the Casey Division, the Barrhaven Blues, Quebec Midgets, Donnacona Bluesox,  and the Napanee Midget Express, and in the Sib division  the Cigars, the Cornwall Pickmeups, the Quebec Juniors and the Cree Nation Fireballs (who travelled for 17 hours from northern Quebec).

The Cigars’ Friday night opener turned out to be a nail biter. 

The team was down 6-3 against the Cornwall Pickmeups in the bottom of the 7th inning. When Jamie Smith came up to bat for the Cigars, the bases were loaded with two out. 

He hit a beautiful grand slam, and brought in four runs. The Cigars took their opener 7-6.

“Boy, was I excited,” Smith said. “It was just a great moment.”

“Never in our lives, in all the tournaments, have we seen a game end that way with a grand slam,” said team-mate and catcher Bobby Hart.

On Saturday afternoon, the Cigars dominated, handing the Cree Nation Fireballs a 7-0 loss. The outstanding pitching of Neil “Cookie” Cook was blisteringly effective, backed up by great fielding and hitting by the rest of the team.

Unfortunately the Cigars went down to defeat on Sunday morning against the Quebec Juniors, 8-4, which put them in second place in the Sib division and pitted them against Barrhaven, first in the Casey division, in the Sunday afternoon semi-final.

This was a hard fought game, with the teams remaining scoreless for several innings. There was consistently fine pitching by Cook. Then, at the top of the fourth inning, Hart belted a two base hit and brought Curtis Summers home putting the Cigars ahead 1-0. 

At the top of the seventh,  Cory Alkerton bunted, getting two runners on base. Dan Loney batted them home, and the Cigars took the game from the Barrhaven Blues, 3-0.

In the final and deciding game of the tournament, the Cigars were pitted against the Donnacona Bluesox, who had defeated the Quebec Juniors in their semi final game to advance to the finals.

Luck ran out in this game for the Cigars, and they were defeated by the Bluesox 6-1. They took home the 2012 Casey at Bat trophy.

Named the Tournament’s MVP was Mathieu Roy, Donnacona Bluesox. Steve Savard, also of the Bluesox, was named top hitter. Neil Cook of the Williamsburg Cigars was named top pitcher.

“It was a great turn out and great weather for Casey at Bat,” said Lyle Schell. “We received lots of compliments on the event, including the barbecue (run by the Morrisburg Pentecostal Church Women’s Ministry with proceeds going to the Food Bank) and the band, Reckless. And we met our fund raising goal. Thanks to all involved for making the Memorial Tournament another  great success.”

[…]