Ravens hosting eight-team tourney
Play begins at Central Field in Charlottetown on Friday
The P.E.I. Canada Games men’s softball team, the Re/ Max Ravens, will begin the 2017 season on home soil this weekend.
The Ravens are hosting the eight-team Kevin Quinn Re/ Max invitational men’s fastpitch tournament at the City Diamond complex off North River Road in Charlottetown from Friday to Sunday.
“We are very excited to get our season started at home as we build towards the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba.” P.E.I. head coach Mark Quinn
It is rains tonight, the 7 and 9 p.m. games will be played at 9 a.m. Saturday at City and Central 2 based on division.
“We are very excited to get our season started at home as we build towards the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba,” said P.E.I. head coach Mark Quinn. “We have had a number of player changes over the winter, adding five new players to our current roster. This weekend will provide the coaching staff with an opportunity to see these new players in game situations.”
The five new players are James Briand, Nolan Hicken, Bret Cheverie, Parker Day and Alex Jabbour.
Although the Ravens have added new players, they do have nine returning players who experienced winning the P.E.I. Senior Men’s Fastpitch League championship last year, including catcher Parker Ronahan; Johnny Arsenault, the 2016 ADL Softball P.E.I. under-21 male athlete of the year; Logan Gallant, who will anchor the pitching staff, and Avery Arsenault, a bronzemedallist for Softball Canada’s junior men’s squad.
“Over the past three years we have had a core group of seven players who have been with us since we started the program, and we are very excited about the opportunity to compete against the best under-21 softball players in the country at this summer’s Canada Games,” commented Quinn. “As a coaching staff we have been impressed with the development of players such as Matt Lange, Ty McAdam and Jarred Ostridge over the past two seasons, and we will be counting on the leadership of Stephen O’Shea and Sam Walsh, who have already attended a Canada Games for baseball and hockey, respectively.”
Competition
The Ravens will face stiff competition as the tournament features a number of the top fastpitch teams from across the Maritimes divided into two pools, including P.E.I.’s Charlottetown Fawcetts and Kensington Marlins.
Nova Scotia representatives are that province’s Canada Games team; the East Hants Mastadons, the silver-medallists from last year’s Canadian men’s championship, and the Colchester Royals, who will be competing at the under-18 nationals in O’Leary in August.
New Brunswick will be represented by its Canada Games team along with the Taymouth Tigers, a young team that has competed at the Eastern Canadian intermediate A championship the past couple of seasons, and are building a team for the senior men’s nationals next summer.