White Sox to host Eastern Canadian championship
The Alexandra Street White Sox will play host to four other teams for the 2017 Eastern Canadian Intermediate Fastball Championship starting tonight at Neville Park in Whitney Pier.
The White Sox, winners of the Nova Scotia intermediate championship last month on the same field, will see competition from the Chant’s Funeral Home Cardinals, Eskasoni Essisoqnik, Townsend Flyers of Hamilton, Ont., and Guysborough Broadhorns. The Cardinals won the Action Week Fastball Tournament this summer.
“This will be five evenlymatched teams,” said White Sox head coach Scott Black. “Every team has good pitching, good hitting and it’ll be a good tournament — a wide-open tournament, because all teams are equal in ability.
“We expect a real tough tournament for all the teams and we’re hoping we’ll draw some good crowds. It’s some of the best fastball we’ve seen here in the last 20 years.”
Play opens at 6 p.m. when the Cardinals face the Essisoqnik. That will be followed by the opening ceremonies, where former and current fastball players will be honoured for promoting the sport. That will be followed by the host White Sox playing the Flyers at 9 p.m.
Following the 1 p.m. game on Saturday, the White Sox will also honour three players that won the senior fastball nationals in Saskatoon, Sask., with the East Hants Mastodons: Alex Anthony of the White Sox, as well as Jonah Wright and Donnelly Archibald of the Broadhorns. After the 3 p.m. game that day, the White Sox will recognize the Glace Bay All-Stars mosquito ‘AAA’ team that captured a provincial title on Sunday in Glace Bay. Canteen facilities will be on site all weekend. Dave LeBlanc will serve as announcer for the event.
The top four teams following the round robin will play in the semifinals on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., with the championship to follow at 3 p.m.
*For a complete schedule, see page B4.