Brussels Tigers prevail despite sub-.500 record going into year-end tourney
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
The Brussels Tigers have reclaimed their position atop the Huron County Fastball League, winning the year-end tournament over the weekend in Mitchell, despite a sub-.500 regular season.
This is now the eighth year-end tournament win for the Tigers in the last 10 seasons; the locals only fell short last year, 2024, and in 2016 when they fell to the Wingham Hitmen in the championship finals. And yet, the Tigers finished the 2025 season in eighth place with a record of 9-11, well behind last year’s champions, the Belmore Stingers, who finished first in the standings with a dominant record of 17-3.
In fact, the Stingers didn’t even make it to the finals this year, falling in the semifinals to the Sebringville Sting, who would face the Tigers in the finals, losing by a score of 3-0.
The Tigers opened the tournament on Friday night with a 5-4 win over the Fullarton A’s, followed by a 2-0 shutout victory over the aforementioned Belmore Stingers on Saturday at noon.
The locals were then able to put their cleats up for a few hours before battling the Milverton Millwrights in the quarterfinals on Saturday night, which the Tigers won by a score of 7-0.
On Sunday at noon, the Tigers played the Sebringville Sting for the first time in the semifinals, beating them by a score of 3-1, sending the Sting down to the losers’ bracket. There, the Sting had to play the Belmore Stingers and trounced the defending champions by a score of 12-3 to earn a spot in the finals against the Tigers, which the Sting lost by a score of 3-0.
In the first round of the tournament, the Elmira Expos beat the Goderich Grizzlies by a score of 5-2, while the Brussels Bangers lost their opening game, falling to the Wroxeter/Wingham Rippers by a score of 3-2 and the Monkton Muskrats won a slugfest with the Walton Brewers, edging the locals by a score of 14-13.
On Saturday, the Milverton Millwrights played their first game of the tournament after a first-round bye, beating the Elmira Expos by a score of 7-3, while the host Mitchell Mets beat the Rippers by a score of 3-0 and the Sebringville Sting beat the Monkton Muskrats by a score of 6-4.
Down in the losers’ bracket on Saturday afternoon, the Brussels Bangers beat the Elmira Expos by a score of 13-2, while the Belmore Stingers shut out the Walton Brewers 10-0, the Monkton Muskrats beat the Fullarton A’s by a score of 5-4 and the Wroxeter/Wingham Rippers beat the Goderich Grizzlies by a score of 5-4.
Later that evening, the Brussels Bangers went on to play the Belmore Stingers, but it was the defending champions that beat the Bangers by a score of 10-5, while the Monkton Muskrats beat the Wroxeter/Wingham Rippers by a score of 5-3 as teams tried to work their way back to the championship bracket.
On Saturday night, in the quarterfinals, in addition to the Brussels Tigers shutting out the Milverton Millwrights by a score of 7-0, the Mitchell Mets fell to the Sebringville Sting. Then, on Sunday morning, the Belmore Stingers edged out the Mitchell Mets by a score of 4-3 and the Milverton Millwrights beat the Monkton Muskrats by a score of 14-4.
That set up a match-up between the Belmore Stingers and Milverton Millwrights, which the Stingers won by a score of 4-1.
The Brussels Tigers then beat the Sebringville Sting by a score of 3-1, sending the Sting down to the losers’ bracket where they beat the Belmore Stingers by a score of 12-3 to earn themselves a shot at the Brussels Tigers in the finals, but that game ended in a 3-0 win for the Tigers.
As mentioned, this is the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that the Brussels Tigers have been crowned champions of the Huron County Fastball League. Last year, the team didn’t make the finals and the Belmore Stingers beat the Mitchell Mets in the finals to win the championship.
The Tigers were champions for the six preceding seasons: 2023 over the Sebringville Sting; 2022 over the Mitchell Mets; 2021 over the Belmore Stingers (in a modified season due to the COVID-19 pandemic; additionally, there was no 2020 season due to the pandemic); 2019 over the Belmore Stingers; 2018 over the Wingham Hitmen and 2017 over the Fullarton A’s.
In 2016, the Wingham Hitmen won the championship, defeating the Tigers in the finals and, in 2015, the Tigers beat the Fullarton A’s to win the championship.
In the years between 2000 and 2014, the Tigers never reached the top of the league, but that came after the team had won the championship five straight seasons from 1995 to 1999.