Nothing but baseball this summer
It’s been a hectic, memorable and productive summer for Carter Krawchuk.
The 12-year-old St. Catharines resident continues to establish himself as one of the top young players in the region, particularly on the mound.
Krawchuk is getting the most out of his summer, suiting up for the St. Catharines Cobras minor peewees, Team New Era of Buffalo in the Boys of Summer League, and was recently added to the roster of the Brampton Royals where he will compete for one of the two Ontario teams at the Baseball Canada under-13 championships which begins this week in London.
Toss in that the Cobras play in two leagues, the local Niagara District loop as well as in the COBA (Central Ontario Baseball Association) league and that between all the teams he’s participated in about 15 tournaments this year, and it’s clear it’s a baseball-only summer in the Krawchuk household.
“The last two months have been booked solid between practices and games,” mom Shannon Krawchuk said. “Every day something is going on.”
And that’s just fine with Carter.
“It never gets to be too much,” he said.
The chance to play for Brampton and represent Ontario was the icing on the cake for an already productive season.
“It kind of came out of the blue,” Shannon said. “We were coming home from a tournament in Buffalo
and the coach called and told us he was drafted second overall.”
Teams can add players to their roster for the championships and Brampton had their eyes on Carter all summer.
Games begin Thursday. Ontario takes on Alberta at 2 p.m.
Carter has had a few chances to work out with Team Ontario and came away impressed.
“They are really good,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
Carter has been told he will be used mostly as a pitcher but with an extremely strict pitch count (30 per game), he’ll also see time in the infield.
Mom, dad Sean, older sister Jordan and twin brother Hudson are also pumped to see Carter get a chance to perform on such a stage.
“I cry,” mom laughed. “I tell Carter I was 18 when I played in my first nationals (for the St. Catharines Darts softball team) so to be (doing that) at 12 is pretty cool.”
Carter, who is entering Grade 8 at St. James Catholic Elementary School next month, doesn’t have time for much else and that doesn’t seem to bother him. He does play AA hockey, but baseball comes first.
Things don’t appear to slowing down, either.
Once the Canadians are done this weekend, the Krawchuks will be a make a beeline to Cooperstown, N.Y., where his Buffalo team is competing in a tournament at Doubleday Field.
“There are over 100 teams from across Canada an the U.S.,” Shannon said. “We’ll be racing down there.”
As he gets older, Carter will likely need to choose between pitching and playing shortstop. For now, he can do both and he’s already approaching 80 miles per hour on the speed gun, which is astounding for his age.
Sounds like a future Blue Jay in the making. After all, he was named after Joe Carter.
It kind of came out of the blue. We were coming home from a tournament in Buffalo and the coach called and told us he was drafted second overall.” Shannon Krawchuk
Major effort for Falcons
The Niagara Falls Falcons major peewee team participated in the 60th annual Lions CNE Peewee Baseball Tournament at Cornation Park in Toronto across from Exhibition Place.
The tournament consists of 32 teams from all areas of Ontario and runs from Aug. 19 through Sept.1.
The Falcons won their first game 5-4 versus the Oakville A’s and now qualify for Round 2 Thursday where they take on North Toronto AAA.
Team members are: Jacob Pozzobon, Ryan Nicholson, Kevin Del Vecchio, Kaden Vaillancourt, Tyler Gearing, William Anderson, Bryson Allen, Cameron Wirt, PJ Grisafi, Connor Mills and Turner Kassie, Max Hao Tianzi and Luke Czerlau. The head coach is Tim Vaillancourt.
Bantams shoot for gold
The Niagara Falls Lococo’s Falcons major bantam team is coming off a great showing at the Ontario Summer Games where they went 2-1 in the round-robin, beating the Intercounty All Stars and Team North, made up of players from as far away as Thunder Bay and Sault Saint Marie. The only loss came to the COBA all stars who were made up of all AAA players, mainly from the Mississauga North Tigers team who won the Canadian National Championship last season.
The Falcons placed sixth out of 16 teams and lost in the quarterfinals to finish 2-2.
The Falcons are now gearing up for their COBA championship game Sunday at 7 p.m. at Oakes Park versus Halton Hills.
The Falcons advanced to the finals with a 12-4 win.
Halton Hills placed first overall with a 17-6-11 mark while the Falcons were second at 13-5-3.
Team members are: Cole Doneff, Marcus Pozzobon, Leif Burciul, Aiden Fletcher, Dylan Paolone, Lucas Lafortune, Anthony Stranges, Tyler Dobbie, Matteo Cimato, Cody Greenfield, James Egan, Cole Ross and Carson Brouwer. Shawn Fletcher, T.C. Murray and Mike Paolone are the coaches while Geoff Allen is the manager.
Good luck!