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The Bear Creek Gremlins captured the 2026 Chiefs Challenge title after an exciting weekend of elite men’s fastball at Lions Park in Simcoe.
Twelve teams competed in the annual tournament, opening with round-robin games on Friday and Saturday before advancing to A and B Division playoffs. The Hill United Chiefs, Bear Creek Gremlins, JDT First Energy and Sandlot Merchants reached the A Division semifinals, while the Toronto Batmen and Chippewa Chiefs battled for the B Division championship.
Toronto claimed the B Division title with an impressive 11-2 victory over the Chippewa Chiefs behind a complete-game performance from Steve Normand.
The A Division championship featured a rematch between the Hill United Chiefs and Bear Creek Gremlins. Hill United built an early 5-2 lead, helped by a two-run home run from Bruno Motroni. The Gremlins answered in dramatic fashion in the seventh inning. Lucio Retamar started the comeback with a two-run homer before Mathieu Roy tied the game with an RBI triple. Jerome Raemaki then hit a two-run home run to put Bear Creek ahead 7-5.
Reliever Kuba Osi?ka closed out the final inning, securing the victory and completing the Gremlins’ remarkable comeback. The win crowned the Bear Creek Gremlins as the 2026 Chiefs Challenge champions after another memorable tournament in Simcoe.
You can watch the championship game on Softball Premier TV’s YouTube channel.
