U.K. Wins cup

The beautiful new turf at Oakridge played host to the 3rd annual Burby World Cup on Saturday. Several players came out to represent and honor their heritage via pre-season burby competition. 2 time defending Champs the UK, Canada, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Eastern Block.

The action began with Canada hosting a feisty Caribbean team featuring Premier finals MVP Shawn Leah. This game was wild early on but both teams reached a stalemate after the 5 regulation innings and ended up going 10 innings. Leah hit a 3 run

triple top 10 and the game seemed over. Canada would fire back bottom 10 to tie the game with a Sean Briggs 2 run double then a huge drama moment as JR Bailey smoked one to the wall and Duane Cobham made the amazing grab then smashed into the fence, jarring the ball loose and sending the unlucky squad from the Caribbean home

Next up, a double feature with 2 games happening simultaneously. Eastern Block @ UK and Canada @ Mediterranean. The UK jumped on Matt Kowall early as Rob Scotland connected for a 2 run double. Joe Callaghan would surprisingly pitch to contact but toss a clean 4 innings supported by another Scotland RBI later on. Make the final 3-0. On the other side of the field it was an intense game as Massey frustrated batters and induced many pop outs. The game was tied 2-2 then 3-3 until Canada finally broke through to take a 5-3 lead and hold on for the victory.

UK, fresh off a little break after a quick win, would now host the Canadians who were playing their 3rd straight game and in the bottom of the first Callaghan and Rob Irvine would hit back to back triples off Massey to get an early 1-0 lead. Callaghan would continue rolling on the mound only getting himself into one or two compromising situations but escaping with yet another clean 4 inning performance. The UK added an insurance run in the 4th and Scotland would give up a couple hits but shut the door bottom 5 for his 2nd save of the day. The only 3 man team in the tourney and 3 players who have been on UK since this tournament was created got it done and clinched a 3rd consecutive title. Can’t wait to come back and try for 4 next year!