SIMCOE – The 2026 Chiefs Challenge took place at Lions Park in Simcoe, Ontario where 12 teams competed to win this year’s edition. With round robin games being played on Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon. After the round robin the 12 teams will split into an A and B Division. You can find the full summary of the tournament below.
FRIDAY SCORES
On Friday, six games were played across three diamonds.
On Diamond 1, the NorthEast Drillers defeated the Chippewa Chiefs 10-0, fueled by strong pitching from Nahuel Saenz and Julien Reitober. On Diamond 2, the Hill United Chiefs took on the Saskatoon Jacks, walking away with a dominant 14-2 victory as Justin Schofield secured the win for his team. On Diamond 3, JDT First Energy won a close battle against the Ohsweken Redmen—the recent winners of the Red Division at the ISC Canada East Qualifier. Devon McCullough and Mazulugwa Pami led the charge to lock down the 5-3 victory.
The action continued into Friday evening at Lions Park as the rest of the pack took the field.
On Diamond 1, the Bear Creek Express faced off against the Midland Explorers, with Ty Sebastian pitching the Express to a 5-1 win. On Diamond 2, the Toronto Batmen squared off against the Bear Creek Gremlins. Before the first pitch, the Hill United Chiefs honored founding player Nick Shailes—who now plays for the Batmen—by presenting him with a framed jersey. Shailes was a three-time ISC Fastpitch MVP during his time with the Chiefs. Once the game began, however, the Bear Creek Gremlins took complete control. Jack Besgrove threw a shutout while his offense backed him up to secure an 8-0 victory. Meanwhile, on Diamond 3, the Sandlot Merchants played the Townsend Tide. Julian Fernandez and Zackary Shirk delivered strong performances on the mound, while the offense fired on all cylinders to put up 10 runs, resulting in a 10-3 win for the Merchants.
SATURDAY SCORES
After each team played 1 game on Friday night, all the teams still had 2 round robin games left to play.
9AM Games
Hill United Chiefs 7 – 2 JDT First Energy
Winning Pitcher: Marco Diaz
NorthEast Drillers 11 – 1 Midland Explorers
Winning Pitcher: Matias Etchevers
Ohsweken Redmen 2 – 1 Saskatoon Jacks (9 innings)
Winning Pitcher: Dustin Veenhof
11AM Games
Bear Creek Gremlins 4 – 1 Townsend Tide
Winning Pitcher: Cody Gibbons, Pablo Migliavacca
Bear Creek Express 1 – 0 Chippewa Chiefs
Winning Pitcher: Liam Potts
Sandlot Merchants 9 – 4 Toronto Batmen
Winning Pitcher: Erick Chaparro
1PM Games
Hill United Chiefs 8 – 0 Ohsweken Redmen
Winning Pitcher: Justin Schofield
Midland Explorers 4 – 1 Chippewa Chiefs
Winning Pitcher: Valen Meta
JDT First Energy 7 -0 Saskatoon Jacks
Winning Pitcher: Mazulugwa Pami, Yan Gonzalez
3PM Games
Bear Creek Express 2 -1 NorthEast Drillers
Winning Pitcher: Carlos Parra, Liam Potts
Bear Creek Gremlins 5 – 0 Sandlot Merchants
Winning Pitcher: Kuba Osicka
Toronto Batmen 1 – 0 Townsend Tide
Winning Pitcher: Riley Manion
A-Quarter/B-Semi Finals
After the round-robin, the tournament split into two brackets: the A-Division and the B-Division. The A-Division moved into the quarterfinals, while the B-Division jumped straight into the semifinals.
The A-Quarterfinals began with the Hill United Chiefs taking on the Midland Explorers. Pitcher Marco Diaz threw a spectacular no-hitter, and the Chiefs’ offense did its job by putting up 10 runs to shut out the Explorers. Meanwhile, the Bear Creek Gremlins faced the Ohsweken Redmen in another quarterfinal matchup. The Gremlins’ offense caught fire to put up 10 runs, while pitcher Jack Besgrove secured the 10-0 win without allowing a single run.
In the first B-Semifinal, the Toronto Batmen played the Saskatoon Jacks. This exciting, down-to-the-wire game ended in a 2-1 victory for the Batmen, with Roman Godoy picking up the win on the mound for his team.
The action concluded with the 8:00 PM slate of games, highlighted by a pitching thriller between JDT First Energy and the Bear Creek Express in the A-Quarterfinals. The pitchers on both sides—Devon McCullough and Mazulugwa Pami for JDT, and Ty Sebastian and Carlos Parra for the Express—locked into a phenomenal duel. Ultimately, JDT First Energy emerged victorious, scraping by with a 1-0 win.
In the final A-Quarterfinal, the Sandlot Merchants squared off against the NorthEast Drillers. Both teams found success at the plate, but Erick Chaparro pitched a gem for the Merchants, giving them the edge they needed to defeat the Drillers 7-4.
The second B-Semifinal between the Chippewa Chiefs and the Townsend Tide was another absolute nail-biter. Both teams backed up their pitchers with stellar defensive plays, but the Chiefs finally managed to break the deadlock, scoring a run off Alex Baillargeon. The Chiefs held on to win 1-0 behind a fantastic outing by pitcher Taiga Onishi, who took home the victory.
SUNDAY SCORES
On Sunday morning at 10:00 AM, the A-Division took the field for both semifinal matchups. On Diamond 2, JDT First Energy battled the Hill United Chiefs. Justin Schofield started on the rubber for the Chiefs, while Yan Gonzalez pitched a complete game for JDT. Schofield and reliever Colin Walsh stifled the JDT offense, holding them to just two runs. Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ bats came alive to put up seven runs, punching their ticket to the finals of the 2026 Chiefs Challenge.
The other semifinal featured the Bear Creek Gremlins squaring off against the Sandlot Merchants. Kuba Osička took the mound for the Gremlins, while Julian Fernandez got the start for the Merchants. Coming off a big quarterfinal upset over the Drillers, the Merchants put up another valiant effort, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the powerhouse Gremlins. Osička and reliever Jack Besgrove combined to hold the Merchants to a single run, while the Gremlins’ offense tacked on five. The victory set up a highly anticipated championship rematch of the previous week’s ISC Canada East Qualifier: the Hill United Chiefs vs. the Bear Creek Gremlins.
Over in the B-Division, the Toronto Batmen and the Chippewa Chiefs clashed in the final. The Batmen had earned their spot by defeating the Saskatoon Jacks in the semifinals, while the Chippewa Chiefs had narrowly edged out the Townsend Tide. In the championship game, Steve Normand pitched a complete game for Toronto, while Jonni Surriel took the mound for the Chiefs. The Batmen proved their dominance by exploding for 11 runs while playing stellar defense behind Normand, who allowed just two runs. With the dominant performance, the Toronto Batmen were officially crowned the 2026 Chiefs Challenge B-Division Champions.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The Championship game in the A-Division between the Bear Creek Gremlins and Hill United Chiefs was once again an instant classic.
The Chiefs started off strong, recording two hits and two runs in the first inning off Gremlins starting pitcher Jack Besgrove. Hill United Chiefs starter Marco Diaz kept the Gremlins under control for the first three innings. However, in the fourth inning, with one man on and one out, Ben Enoka hit a two-run home run off Diaz to tie the game. With the game still knotted in the bottom of the fifth, Bruno Motroni did what Bruno Motroni does best, hitting a two-run home run to give the Chiefs the lead once again. Later in the inning, Alejandro Gonzalez scored an insurance run on a wild pitch by Besgrove, making it a 5-2 score for Hill United.
In the top of the seventh, with two outs and trailing by three runs, Lucio Retamar hit a two-run home run off Marco Diaz, bringing the Gremlins within one. The next batter, Zenon Winters, went after the first pitch he saw and singled up the middle to put a runner on first. Mathieu Roy followed with a fantastic triple, scoring Tane Mumu (who pinch-ran for Winters) to tie the game. The next batter, Jerome Raemaki, waited for his pitch and crushed a home run on a 3-1 count, scoring Roy and himself to give the Gremlins their first lead of the game at 7-5.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, relief pitcher Osička – who came in relief in the sixth inning – was tasked with closing out the game for the Gremlins—no easy feat against the Chiefs’ lineup. The first batter, Alan Peker, collected a base hit off Osička to go 4-for-4 on the day. Next up was Bradley Ezekiel, who had won the championship game for the Chiefs just last week. Osička won the battle this time, striking Ezekiel out for the first out of the inning. Quinten Bruce followed with a single up the middle, putting runners on first and third with only one out. Bruno Motroni then stepped up but struck out on three pitches. Tony Gonzalez was the final out, grounding out to second base to end the ballgame.
Congratulations to the Bear Creek Gremlins for winning the 2026 Chiefs Challenge.