Sooners open playoff series tonight
The Sydney Sooners had success against the Truro Bearcats this summer, winning six out of their seven meetings.
But the Bearcats have been a formidable foe down the stretch as they took a charge at a playoff spot, a fact not lost on the Sooners players and their coach.
The first-place Sooners (19-8) face the fourth-place Bearcats (9-19) in the opening round of the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League playoffs. Game 1 of the best-of-five series goes tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the TAAC Grounds in Truro.
“We played them pretty well this year, but we all know collectively that they’re a really dangerous team,” said Sydney second baseman Mike Tobin of Antigonish. “They have some really good veterans and have been playing their best ball of the season right now, so we all know we have to go in there and play our best game and our best series if we want to come out on top.”
Tobin grew up playing minor baseball in Antigonish and suited up for the MacGregor Kinsmen Midgets before making the jump to senior baseball.
Tobin knows what the Truro squad brings to the table. He played five seasons for the Bearcats before joining the Sooners roster this summer.
“Any team you play in the semifinals, you want to beat them no matter what,” said the 23-year-old. “I’m not really thinking about them as a team I used to play on. I’m thinking of them as a team we need to beat to get to the finals.”
The Sooners are fresh off their third-straight league pennant, but hope to capture their first league championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014. It was the Bearcats that bumped them out in the first round in 2015.
“If you were to talk to Truro, they’d probably say that it’s not that they’re intimidated having to play us,” said Sooners manager Jim (Rico) McEachern. “Having said that, I have to feel good about the fact that we’ve been able to win games against them this year, albeit some of them were very close.”
Sheldon MacDonald is the tentative starter for Game 1 tonight. Game 2 will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. in Truro. Game 3 goes Sept. 15 at Susan McEachern Memorial Ball Field in Sydney starting at 7 p.m. If necessary, Game 4 and Game 5 will be played Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Sydney, respectively.
The winner of the series will face the winner of the second semifinal between the secondplace and defending league champion Dartmouth Moosehead Dry (16-10) and the thirdplace Halifax Pelham Molson Canadians (16-11).