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Highgate captures league fastball
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A third inning break out carry the Rock to a 9-2 five inning win against St. Thomas
September 30, 2025
By Rob J. Ross
HIGHGATE, Ont. - The Highgate Rock are league champions for the first time in 23 years.
Meanwhile the St. Thomas Storm watched their opponent celebrate a South Middlesex Men's Fastball League championship for a third straight year.
Highgate broke open a 1-1 game with seven runs in the third inning, on their way to a 9-2 win, in five innings, tonight on home field.
Rock pitcher Connor Sloan tossed a complete game eight hitter, striking out seven batters.
"It feels amazing obviously," said Sloan. "I was calm. That's the one word. I was just calm. I tried to just play within myself. The rise ball was working. The drop ball was working. I trusted all of the work and it worked out."
The Rock last held the playoff title in 2002, oddly enough winning that year's final against the Union Storm, now St. Thomas.
The Storm have now lost three consecutive finals, to Glencoe in 2023 and Chippewa last year, and haven't held the title since 2019.
"This one hurts. We have a rivalry going, due to some events that happened in our last regular season game," Storm manager Tom Edie said. "If I can reflect on the series, it goes back to game two, when we had a chance to put a stranglehold on the series. We had them down 7-2, and melted down. They came back and got a little momentum. We came back with a no-hitter out of Dawdy and thought we were in the driver's seat, but it wasn't to be."
St. Thomas opened the best of five series with a 7-3 win. Highgate rallied in game two for a 10-9 comeback in eight innings. Pitcher Jason Dawdy blanked the Rock in game three, for a 7-0 win. In game four, the Rock broke a 6-6 tie, with three runs in the top of seventh inning, taking a 9-6 road win and tying the series at two games.
"Certain players rise to the top in key situations and we had a few guys that didn't perform up to their own expectations. They had guys who did," Edie said. "They have guys who can run and throw. The two outfield plays in (game four) were a huge momentum shift. Both of those balls could have been doubles or triples. "That's what it takes to win, defence and timely hitting."
In game five, the Rock took over breaking a 1-1 affair in the third inning, by scoring seven times.
Sloan, one of the leanest players on the diamond, has more of a unique delivery to his pitches.
"It's the leap. It's the big leap out. I just push with my whole body," explained the 24-year old from Highgate. "I don't use as much arm as the rest of the guys, but my whole body gets into it and that's how I do it."
Both Sloan and Rock captain Kyle Vink are happy to bring a league title back to their hometown, of about 350 residents, one hour west of St. Thomas, just off of the 401, in Chatham-Kent.
"It's a great group of guys. We all have each other's back," said Soan. "The first tournament in Fingal is when it really locked in for us. We started getting those turning points. We didn't quit. We didn't die. We didn't stop cheering. It was a group effort. We kept building on that."
The Rock won the Fingal tournament and finished tied in first place with the Storm with 12-4 records.
"(Sloan) had them guessing and put a lot of ground balls out for our infielders and our defence was able to do the work," Vink said. "We had to keep the pressure on. Tommy's teams never quit and they average seven or eight runs a game."
Mitch Roy singled and doubled for St. Thomas. Chris Wismer on a ground out tying the game at one, in the top of the third inning and Tyler Annett in the fifth inning, had the Storm's RBIs.
Derek Shaw drove in three runs for Highgate, including a two-run double, for a 8-1 lead. Darren Clark and Josh Hamilton, both had two RBIs.
Bryan Boersma gave the Rock a 2-1 lead with a RBI triple, igniting their third inning outburst. Chase Konecny's RBI single made it 3-1, the eventual game winning hit.
Left fielder Konecny, made a splendid running catch for the third out in the first inning, preventing the Storm from scoring the opening run.
"Chase, he's been solid in the outfield all year," said Sloan. "He throw his body on the line, you should see him diving in to third or second."
Highgate is the fifth team in five years to capture the South Middlesex title, following Chippewa, Glencoe, Alvinston and St. Thomas (2019). The 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled due to COVID.
The Storm have made seven of the past eight league finals, winning twice, in 2019 and 2016.
Between games four and five, Highgate placed third
at an ISC tournament, the Eastern Ontario Challenge Cup in Ingersoll, losing
only to the finalists, and in eight innings to eventual champion Sebringville
with ace pitcher Ty Sebastian.
World tourney
The International Softball Congress (ISC) 2026 world club team championships is coming to Melbourne and Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, August 8-15. There will 32 open and 16 legends teams on the diamonds.ence."
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