Can’t pick them all
Tough decisions coming for national junior men’s team coaches
The head coach for Softball Canada’s next national junior men’s team says athletes participating in a final selection camp this week in O’Leary are giving what their coaches asked of them.
“We said, coming in, ‘Make this as hard as possible for us to pick’,” Jeff Ellsworth said of the instruction given to the 30 ball players in camp.
“There are going to be some good ball players staying home,” he added in pointing to one of the realities in selecting a team from a camp filled with talented players.
The camp started Sunday evening, almost as soon as the Canadian under-18 men’s championship tournament wrapped up.
Twenty-nine of the athletes in the selection camp played in the national championship and 25 of them already knew they would be staying for camp. Four more players were invited to try out based on their tournament play.
Three players in camp, Robbie Black and Cole Pavey from Ontario and Isaac Lefebvre from Quebec, were part of the junior men’s team that won bronze at the world championship last year.
Past participation does not equate to a free pass to the national team. Ellsworth said all positions will have to be earned during the camp that wraps up Thursday evening.
“You’re looking for the allaround five-tool player,” he said, explaining he and his assistant coaches, Jean-Yves Doucet from Quebec, Todd McCulloch from Alberta and Mark Quinn from Mermaid are looking for players who possess speed, ball smarts, agility, hitting and a solid short game.
Leadership abilities on and off the field, and how players handle mistakes also factor into their decisions, he added.
Noah Baker and Brady Hogg from the Canadian champion Chepstow Lang Farms are part of the 30-player tryout.
“Certainly, there’s pressure to perform, especially after becoming a national champion, but you’ve just got to do what you can and make the plays you can,” Baker said in considering what’s now at stake.
He feels the national championship right before the selection camp was advantageous for all the players trying out.
“I think it got our heads in the game and kind of gave us that mental preparation for what to expect.”
The camp, said Hogg, has a good group of players. “There’s a lot of talent here,” he observed.
The players were divided into two teams for an inter-squad doubleheader Monday night, which attracted a large crowd of spectators. Players were back on the field Tuesday night against the O’Leary-based Summerside Chrysler Dodge Eagles.
“There were some really great plays on the infield. There were some mistakes that were made, but we really don’t mind mistakes at this stage because that’s an opportunity to learn,” Ellsworth assessed Monday’s doubleheader.
“With us, it’s how you’re dealing with that mistake because, obviously, mistakes are going to happen at the world championship. Do you have the ability to let it go quickly? If you do, you’re going to be a huge asset to this team.”
He said all the athletes have been dealing well with the pressure.
“It’s good to see the athleticism, for sure,” said McCulloch, suggesting players in this year’s camp are taking that to a new level since the last cycle.