Reds letter days
Cape Breton Big Daddy’s Reds head to national elimination qualifier
The Cape Breton Big Daddy’s Reds are about to find out how much an extra letter matters on the baseball diamond.
After winning the Baseball Nova Scotia Bluenose League midget ‘AA’ title last year, the New Waterford-based squad made the jump to midget ‘AAA’ this season. And while coach Frank Conrad says he’s noticed a definite jump in competition, he likes the Reds’ chances at the three-day national elimination qualifier, which begins in Dartmouth on Friday.
“There is a jump for sure from ‘AA’ to ‘AAA’ — the baseball IQ is at a higher level, the coaching is better — everything is just a little better, so you do see the jump,” said Conrad. “From all the scouting reports, we match up well against anybody in the league, so we think we’ll be fine.”
Conrad, whose son Josh is one of seven returning players from last year’s team, said Cape Breton’s depth at pitching, strong defence and versatility will be key when they face the best 16- 18-year-olds from across the province. As well, he said, many of Cape Breton’s players have played in national tournaments at the Little League and junior levels, making the Reds one of the most experienced teams in the nine-team tournament.
“Our identity basically is we have really strong pitching, we have great defence, and if we hit the ball this weekend, we’re going to be a real hard team to match up against because of the strong pitching,” he said. “We’re very deep in pitching and we’re very deep defensively because there’s a lot of guys who can play multiple positions. The core of this team has been at national tournaments before … a lot of these kids have played in big games — I think we have the most experienced team going into this tournament and I think we’re probably the deepest team in the league.”
And the fact that the winning team will represent Nova Scotia at the national tournament in London, Ont., from Aug. 17-21 is all the incentive the Reds need, Conrad said.
“Basically the whole season rides on this one tournament.
This is the big one — there’s a national tournament on the line so all the nine teams are going to bring their best. This is the weekend and we’re pretty excited.”