Basketball star makes transition to fastball
Burns has his eye on national team after changing his sports emphasis
Patrick Burns is still having a ball, even after trading in a basketball for softball.
Ever since his Canadian Interuniversity Sport eligibility ended in 2013, after five seasons of men’s basketball with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, Burns has re-focused on his first love, softball.
That’s the first sport he played at age five. It’s also one in which he’s still developing and now popping up on Canada’s national men’s softball program’s radar.
“It was a pretty easy transition back because I never really left the sport — I just kind of focused a little bit more of my attention on basketball,” Burns said after his Saskatoon Poly Plus Angels knocked off the Saskatoon Bridge City Sharks 9-0 after five innings at Bob Van Impe Stadium in the opening game of the 2016 Softball Saskatchewan senior A men’s provincial championship.
“Coming back to ball, it was second nature again. It’s something I really enjoy doing. It’s a lot easier on the body, too, so that’s always nice.”
Away from his Saskatoon club team, Burns also plays for an International Softball Congress squad, J&B Painting, out of Agoura Hills, Calif. That team features players from all over Canada and the United States.
“Pretty much every other weekend, I’ve gone somewhere,” said Burns, 26.
“We just kind of fly in and meet on weekends, play a few club games during the week and come together and play together on the weekends.”
Last weekend, at the Boys of Summer tournament in Wisconsin, Burns hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off Saskatoon Angels teammate and Team Canada pitcher Devon McCullough, who was playing for the A-1 Bombers.
“When I first started with (J&B), they needed an outfielder so that’s what I first started out as,” says Burns. “Now, after the last three years with them, I’ve sort of transitioned into one of the pitchers on the team.”
He does the same double-duty with the Angels.
GARRY BURNS COACHING
Garry Burns continues to coach his son, Patrick. He’s been doing so for two decades now.
“It’s always nice to have him on the bench with me,” admits Patrick.
While Garry Burns is a softball fixture in Saskatoon — the ball diamond is a second home in the summer — dad is also a big fan of basketball, so Patrick doing both was never a problem.
“Don Bates from Team Canada (former national team coach and pitching coach) used to tell me that he was hoping that Patrick would get done with his basketball so he could concentrate on his pitching,” Garry Burns says with a laugh. “He had fun with both and they complement each other, keeping him in shape year-round.”
Burns, who wrapped up his CIS men’s basketball career in 2013, averaged 9.4 points and 9.2 rebounds — nearly a double-double — in his final year with the Huskies, totalling 14 blocks and 48 steals.
This past year, he didn’t play too much basketball at all.
“I broke my ankle in October, so I was out until Christmas,” points out Patrick.
“Basketball has just been on the back burner now with how things have worked.”
Softball works a little differently, too.
“With basketball, you can kind of hide or be away from the ball,” he explains.
“But, with being a pitcher in fastball, I like how the game is always in your hands and there’s a lot more pressure on me.”
NATIONAL TEAM GOAL
Team Canada is the end goal for Patrick Burns.
“That’s definitely the top level we can get to,” he says. “That’s the team that’s going to go to the Olympics when they have that. Right now, my goal is to make the 40-man (athlete pool) — the big roster they have that they send you to camps and everything. They’ll make the team out of that 40-man roster. Right now, I’m just trying to get on their radar so they can pick me for that. “I’m just waiting.” Team Canada head coach John Stuart says Burns is definitely garnering some attention as a diamond in the rough.
“I’ll be honest with you — I never heard anything about him until I watched him in Kelowna this past May and he’s definitely on our radar now,” admits Stuart.
“He’s definitely one to keep an eye on. Nothing is 100 per cent, but I could say in the future I could definitely see him being at a national team camp.”
Maybe in an utility role. Patrick hopes to someday get on as an outfielder/designated hitter/spotduty pitcher.
“That would be perfect,” he says. “That would be something I’d be looking forward to.”