Diamond’s namesake a true legend of baseball in Canada
It’s opening day at the Little League Canadian Championships and Lovell McDonnell is sitting on a lawnmower.
The 72-year-old’s voice quickens as he talks about how the machine helped make those professional-looking lanes in the outfield, grass pushed down one way and the other by special metal rollers. How the rollers can be moved so that the mower’s wheels don’t leave an indent over time.
A volunteer calls over asking what to do about the nearly-full garbage bin. Another checks in on what needs to be done next. He checks his phone, sends off a message.
He’s in his element. After all, the diamond does have his name on it. Every one in the city might as well, too, given how much time he spends at them.
“That is the one real rewarding thing being involved in sport and community, there’s always challenging times but the amount of good people that are involved trying to make things work for kids, there’s thousands,” says McDonnell, who’s been doing this for decades.
Medicine Hat’s Mr. Baseball has been honoured on Medicine Hat’s Sports Wall of Fame and in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, but the 1997 naming of the Strathcona Park baseball diamond might be the most fitting honour for the man who led the city’s rise to prominence in the sport thanks to his understated charm, dedication and perseverance.
“Ninety-eight per cent of this is all because of Lovell McDonnell,” says Medicine Hat Little League president Jeff Klick, looking out on the perfectly manicured grass. “He created this, developed Little League to the point it is. He brings baseball to a higher level here in town, and cares for it himself.”
Born in small-town Manitoba, McDonnell played ball growing up but, as he notes, not at the level of the kids who are here this week. At 28 he took a job in Suffield. Pretty soon, his kids Rob and Tanis were getting involved in sports.
Lovell McDonnell the baseball man was just getting started.
“For me he’s always been that influence, but I remember as a seven-yearold, he became a coach and maintaining fields,” says Rob. “That goes all the way back to 1977, and it’s just grown since then and gotten bigger and bigger.
“I don’t think he’ll ever realize how many people he’s touched and what a positive impact he’s made on so many lives.”
After bowing out in the group stage of last year’s Canadian Little League Championship in Hastings, B.C., Evan Lachimea isn’t about to let his second chance slip away.
The Port Arthur Nationals second baseman hit two home runs and a pair singles for 5 RBI to lead his squad to a resounding 13-1 victory over the Regina Kiwanis Nationals .
Lachimea did the heavy lifting — with both of his home runs coming in backto-back at bats for a 4-for-4 outing — but he’s not the only member of his team batting 1.000 after their first game. Starting pitcher Liam Willmore held Regina to one run on three hits over 2 and 1/3 innings on the mound to collect the win— while going 3-for-3 with 2 RBI and a pair of doubles.
While Regina only managed to string together three hits in the loss, Lucas Bzdel certainly made his count. The Kiwanis third baseman ran right into a Willmore fastball and took it for a ride over the right field fence, but it was all the offence Regina would muster.
Kiwanis starter Cam Kaytor settled for the loss after allowing five runs on six hits through the first 1 and 1/3 innings before Port Arthur’s offence took over.
Port Arthur returns to the diamond at 11 a.m. to take on Quebec’s Mirabel Diamond Academy, while Regina will aim to bounce back against host Medicine Hat squad at 5 p.m.
Mirabel Diamond Academy 4, Lethbridge Southwest All Stars 2
Quebec representative Mirabel Diamond Academy drew first blood at the Canadian Little League Championship with a tense win over Alberta’s Lethbridge Southwest.
Diamond stranded a whopping 13 base runners over six innings, but four runs was all they would need to jump into the win column.
“We left a lot of runners on the bases and we have to work on this, being more clutch with runners on base. But we won the game. That’s the bottom line,” said Quebec coach Tristan Beaudin, whose team will return to the field Friday at 11 a.m. to take on Ontario’s Port Arthur Nationals.
Raphael Bourdeau collected the win after holding Southwest scoreless while allowing two hits over 2 and 1/3 innings.
Lethbridge's Nolan Wytrykusz took the loss after allowing three runs on four hits through 2 and 2/3 innings. While Zayne Wittke allowed another run while closing out the third, the bullpen is what kept Lethbridge in the game.
Brennan McTavish was one of five relievers to appear for Southwest, and he managed to escape a bases loaded jam in the fifth while holding Quebec off the board. It was one of three times Diamond Academy stranded three.
“I get nervous sometimes but I just battle through it,” said McTavish, whose Lethbridge squad will take on the Glace Bay Colonels at 2 p.m.
Quebec left fielder Joel Ouelette started the offence off with a bang, sending the first runs of the tournament across the plate with a two-run shot in the top of the second. Second baseman William Alexis Brault kept the offence rolling in the third with an RBI error, then cacher Louis-Felix Anderson repeated the feat in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
Lethbridge mustered a response in the fourth — with Wytrykusz cashing an RBI groundout before Wittke crossed on a passed ball — but a double play ended the game in the sixth.