It can also lose games.
Just ask the Mississauga Majors, who yesterday afternoon in Toronto fell 11-4 to Markham Mariners in a quarter-final at the 52nd annual Lions-CNE Peewee Baseball Tournament.
"Our starting pitchers didn't come out with the fire we expected," said Majors head coach Lawrence Collymore, whose club was eliminated from the tourney. "We got behind on the counts and laid the ball up and they (Markham) just teed off on it."
Mississauga, which was looking to become only the third team to win back-to-back Lions-CNE titles and the first since the 1982-83 Stratford J & S News, started off with a bang, scoring three runs in the first inning at CNE Park.
However, the Majors, who used four pitchers in seven innings, quickly found themselves trailing 9-3 after the second.
"The bats just fell asleep; I don't know why and I can't figure it out," said Collymore. "We've scored 10-11 runs in the previous games. They just didn't find it deep down in them."
Majors' co-captian Owen Spiwak, who went 1-3 with a two-run homer, said it was the second inning that did them in.
"Their (Markham) pitching isn't that good," said Spiwak. "But we didn't hit the ball and it made them look better."
Also contributing on offence were Vince Cordi, who blasted a solo shot, and Yuruk Vlasic, who went 2-3, crossing the plate twice.
onlinenews@mississauga.net
