Baseball and new kids on the block
Senior Islanders hit the diamond at home on Saturday, young Island athletes are making waves
The resurgent Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders are at home base at Memorial Field on Saturday, at 2 p.m., in New Brunswick Senior Baseball League play against Fredericton Royals.
It’s the first of a doubleheader against the second-best hitting team in the league (.280).
The Islanders split two games already this week, winning 5-1 in Charlottetown over the Moncton Fisher Cats due in large part of lefty Brody McDonald’s one-hitter, and losing 3-0 on the road to the Chatham Ironmen after a fine pitching effort by Jake Beck.
McDonald’s victory his first of the season although his earned run average of 2.30 is third best in the league. Islanders’ ace righty Jordan Stevenson will start one of the games Saturday, and he not only leads the loop in wins (5), but he’s hitting .400 – third best at 26-for-69, with a pair of home runs.
Islanders general manager Peter MacDonald has informed us that the golf fundraiser in support of the Charlottetown Baseball Islanders is set for Friday, Aug. 11, at Avondale Golf Course.
The tournament is the Islanders’ only major fundraiser, and baseball fans that are golfers should take in this event. Cost is $400 per four-player team, and includes 18 holes, power carts, steak dinners and door prizes.
To register, or enter a team, please contact Mikeal Thomas at 902-439-6992, or email jmikealthomas@gmail.com.
The Summerside mosquito AAA team easily downed Saint John last Sunday at City Diamond in the championship game of the annual Jimmy Fiddler Memorial tournament.
The host Capital District Islanders and Eastern Express (Cardigan) were both 3-0, but lost semifinal games, setting the stage for the Summerside and Saint John finale.
Capital District head coach K.J. White was very pleased with the young team, and insists
he’ll be back next summer. Like the Blue Jays, it’s “wait ’til next year.”
New Kids on the Block
In golf, Charlottetown’s Tyler Hashmi, 17, posted rounds of 76, 77 and 71 last weekend at the Future Links Atlantic junior championships in Clare, N.S., and earned the right to represent P.E.I. at the Canadian junior championships, which start Monday in Kingston, Ont.
It also earned Tyler the right to represent P.E.I. at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, Man. He’ll join Nine Mile Creek’s Alex Taylor, who plays out of Countryview Golf Club, and Jason Poley of Charlottetown, who like Hashmi plays out of the Belvedere Golf Club.
Tyler has a golf pedigree as his dad Yousef Hashmi was a very good golfer, and represented P.E.I. at the Canadian Mid-Amateur on numerous occasions.
In basketball, Charlottetown’s Sydney Strain, 14, poured in 36 points in a losing cause as Newfoundland and Labrador dumped P.E.I. 60-48 last
weekend in Saint John, N.B., at the SummerFest under-14 girls’ Atlantic tournament. Sydney had 23 points at the half. She is the daughter of Paul Strain, one of the better handicappers at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Evan Nause, 14, may not be a name familiar with the local hockey crowd, but remember the name.
I had a chat with Evan and his life and hockey coach Alan Andrews last Saturday at the Fiddler baseball tournament, and he is an impressive young man.
Nause is headed to the Notre Dame major midget camp this fall. When Alan says, “this is a special player,” that’s good enough for me.
The Andrews hockey school is one of the best development camps in the world, attracting youngsters from 20 countries and 27 states.
It will be interesting following these three we’ll call new kids on the block.
Harness racing
Live harness racing continues at 6 p.m. Saturday at the city
track, with a 14-dash card.
Highly regarded DGs Camme makes his debut in the $2,400 top class in Race 13, and it in a tough spot with the likes of Forever Paradise, Jeb, Adkins Hanover, Elm Grove Kaboom, Machinthesand, Eagle Jolt, Painted Desert and Instant Shadow.
Young Ryan Desroche, Marc Campbell’s right hand man, who posted his first career hat trick last Sunday at Summerside Raceway, drives Painted Desert in the feature against Campbell (Eagle Jolt), who is far and away the leading dash-winning driver in the Maritimes with 108 wins.
Also on the card is highlyregarded two-year-old Montys Play, who won last Thursday at Truro in 1:59 for owners Wayne MacRae of Bloomingwood Farms and driver-trainer Gilles Barrieau.
On the topic of hot trainers, Tom Weatherbie has been holding a hot hand with a number of top colts from his barn. Half Cut, a two-year-old from the first crop of Stonebridge Terror, took a new record of 1:58:4 in winning ASS at Truro last
week for owners Mike Currie and his Cardigan syndicate of Kyle and Joe Gardner and Jerry MacKinnon.
The week previous, Weatherbie-trained Complete Player handled the best sophomore colts in the region as Player stepped to a lifetime best of 1:53:3 for owner David Kennedy.
Dr. Ian Moore’s Percy Bluechip (by Shadow Play) may just be the best two-year-old filly in North America as she raced to a Canadian record 1:51 in her debut. She won her $96,400 last Monday at Mohawk while James MacDonald took the other $96,400 stake with trainer Scott McEneny’s Big Thong (by Big Jim) in 1:52:1.
The $400,000 Adios goes Saturday afternoon at the Meadows. Blood Line (Mark MacDonald), who was beaten a neck last Saturday by Huntsville, drew the outside Post 8, with Fear the Dragon and Hunstville inside.