TWIN CENTRE SOFTBALL TEAM TO NATIONALS
Trip west will be the first for the team, though some of the players have had experiences at the national level
THE TWIN CENTRE WILDCATS are planning to hit enough home runs to get them a gold medal.
Saskatoon is playing host to teams from around the country, all vying for the top spot at the 2016 U18 Men’s Canadian Softball Championship on Aug. 9.
The team, based in Wellesley, has many players that have been to nationals before on the roster, experience that pitcher Troy Moffitt says can only help them.
“It’s a pretty great feeling to go again. Hopefully it will help. I wasn’t with Wellesley the last time I was at nationals, but having the experience will definitely help us when we get there,” he said.
The team’s other pitcher, Dylan Lebold, says the team is really looking forward to playing ball and representing not only the team, but the community of Wellesley.
“It is a really special feeling knowing that we get another shot at being the best team in Canada, especially being from the little town of Wellesley,” he said before a game on Tuesday night. “You get the chance to compete. It is going to be a tough tournament, but we are up for the challenge and we will see how it all plays out.”
Back in 2014, Lebold was on the championshipwinning U16 Wildcats. He can’t wait to get the same result with this group of guys.
“Two years ago we went and we won. It was a lot of fun. We ended up coming on top back in Bantam. We can’t wait to do it again,” he said, adding that now they know they are going, it is time for the team to keep up on practices and regular season games.
“It is just the little things here and there. The small things,” he said. “No taking games off, and coming up and having good at-bats and things like that. Keeping it clean in the outfield, that kind of thing.”
To earn a spot in the national competition, the team had to place in the top three at a provincewide tournament. Head coach Paul Schnarr says the tournament went well for them, winning against another team headed to Saskatoon in Cobourg at the end of June.
“You go into a tournament called the Elimination Tournament. It is all of Ontario. Any team can
enter and the top three teams get to go to nationals,” he said, adding that there was a good back and forth between Twin Centre and Chepstow. “We defeated Chepstow, but they are going too. We beat them once, and they beat us after we had already qualified. We had to beat to get there. There was a lot of pressure. Until you qualify, or until we knew that we were going to finish third for sure, you could feel the pressure.”
Schnarr says now, it is all about playing ball and thinking like champions.
“Our first game is on Aug. 9 against Quebec,” he said. “We are practicing as much as we can. We play in the league, but we are definitely going to try and get more practices in. It is just about getting prepared mentally. That is the big thing.”
The tournament runs from Aug. 9 to 11. To follow the Wildcats and their quest for a gold medal, visit www.champion.softball.ca.