The best stories in sport aren’t necessarily about the athletes who made it. The ones who were good enough to get close often make for the most compelling copy.
There will be no shortage of such tales today when the 2017 Canadian baseball championships begin at Royal Athletic Park and Lambrick Park. For instance, the host Victoria Mavericks feature former Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Kyle Orr and 2004 Toronto Blue Jays draft pick Bobby Scott.
The two-time defending-champion Thunder from Tecumseh, Ont., have the likes of pitcher Joel Pierce, seventh-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010, and first-baseman Mitch Delaney, a 2008 selection of the New York Yankees.
“Almost every player here at the nationals played at least collegiately. This is a really high level of baseball,” said Jim Swanson, head of the national championships organizing committee.
“These are guys who love the game and now play it as a sport for life.”
Swanson was part of two previous national championship-winning teams as player or GM — the Prince George Axemen who won it all as hosts in 2012, and the Langley Blaze who won it at St. John’s, N.L., in 2014.
“Those two gold medals are prized possessions and are hanging on my wall above my desk and I cherish those more than anything else I have won in baseball,” said Swanson, co-owner and managing partner of the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League.
The Victoria Mavericks, hosting this year, last won the national title in 2008 at Brandon, Manitoba.
This year’s host Victoria squad features Orr, Scott, former Seattle University and HarbourCats star slugger Griffin Andreychuk, versatile former Victoria Seals pro Charlie Strandlund, and former college players and Mavericks League veterans Connor Russell, Sean Murphy, Connor Moughtin, Lanny Burrows, Kevin Biro, Brendan Orr, Cooper Misic, Luke Manuel, Jordan Broatch, Mitch Davidoff, Kevin Pockett, Jeremy Campbell and Jason Gibson. Nanaimo pick-ups Andreychuk and brothers Liam Goodall and Aidan Goodall complement the mix.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia team slugger Jake Sanford of Cole Harbour won the home-run derby Wednesday night by hitting 310 feet into the teeth of a howling head wind. The balls were hit from Ogden Point into the Juan de Fuca Strait. All 10 teams put up their best long-ball hitter for the contest.
As host, the Mavericks got two reps, and put up Orr and Murphy. Most of the hitters were hampered by the stiff wind blowing right at them off the water.
The national championships open this morning at 9 a.m. with Newfoundland playing Nova Scotia at Royal Athletic Park and Alberta 1 facing Ontario 2 at Lambrick Park. Other opening-day games today at the two parks go at noon and 3 p.m.
The opening ceremonies are at 6:15 p.m. today, followed by the feature game between the host Mavericks and New Brunswick at 7 p.m.
The national tournament round-robin continues Friday at both venues from 9 a.m. through to the Mavericks versus Alberta 2 game at 7 p.m. at RAP. The Saturday action begins at 8 a.m. through to the quarter-finals at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. at RAP.
All the action Sunday is at RAP with the semifinals at 9 a.m. and noon, bronze-medal game at 4 p.m. and gold-medal game at 7 p.m.
