Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Months of training and preparation will all be left on the Napanee Fairground diamonds next week as teams from across Canada square off at the U20 Men’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championships, Aug. 2-7.
The host Napanee Express roll into the tournament with a mix of confidence and respect for the other seven teams in the tournament field. While players from this group captured gold at the U17 Canadians held in Saskatchewan back in 2018, they know they could be seeing some very different players this time around.
“A lot changes with a lot of practice and a lot of preparation and ability and skill level change,” said Express coach Cory Brooks. “I’m not expecting anybody to be not good and we’re going to make sure that we’re ready and prepared for every inning of every game.”
Napanee has already put teams on notice earlier this month when they placed second at the provincial eliminations, finishing behind Tavistock. As host of Canadians the Express didn’t have to worry about finishing in the top four to qualify for the national tournament but still played their Ontario counterparts tough.
“I’m very happy with our eliminations, I’m very happy with how we played,” said Brooks. “I don’t want to peak at the eliminations. Finishing second is definitely letting everybody know that we should be a team that should expect to do well. I’m very happy with our pitching, the fact that I was able to use my whole bench pretty much throughout the whole eliminations and do well and finish second. We were four games in a row on Sunday, I like our chances at a Canadians where it’s only two games a day.”
Ty Branchaud of the Napanee U20 Express. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Tavistock comes in as Ontario’s top seed followed by Rostock and Hagersville as well as host Napanee. Rounding out the field is a pair of teams from Saskatchewan, one from Nova Scotia and one from Quebec.
Representing the hometown Express will be Connor Brooks (#3, pitcher/infield), Rob Barker (#16, outfield), Ty Branchaud (#15, outfield, first base), Ty Franklin (#8, second base), Aiden Cloet (#20, catcher, right field), Aiden Reddick (#13, first base, third base), Bryson Gilpin (#00, shortstop), Gavin Brooks (#11, pitcher, third base), Dylan Hehn (#44, pitcher, first base), Joe Mick (#34, catcher, first base), Quinton Pierce (#79, first base, outfield), Gavin Gibson (#19, shortstop, infield), Jacob Boutlier (#6, right field) Brad Barker (#22, pitcher, utility) and Reece Martin (#39, outfield). For Rob Barker, Mick and Hehn, this tournament is their final Nationals before graduating to the senior level of Softball Canada.
The core of this team is home grown through the Softball Napanee program and most of them have been teammates since they first put on a mitt and learned the game. That’s part of what makes playing a major tournament right at home so special.
Express U20 pitcher Connor Brooks. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
“As a coaching staff that’s what we’re trying to prepare our guys for, the big crowds, the excitement,” said coach Brooks. “All the younger ball players that are around Napanee will be looking up to these guys. It’s going to be a wow factor at first because some of these guys have never played in front of big crowds. At the end of the day I’m basically telling the boys to keep your eyes down and focus one pitch at a time, one play at a time, one inning at a time and understand that they’re there to support us, not put pressure on us.”
While the main focus is performing well on the field, the coaching staff has also stressed the importance of being good hosts and ambassadors for the game.
“We will be making time for younger kids after our games whether it’s playing catch with one of our guys or learning a pitch,” said Brooks. “Just introduce ourselves, I think that’s a very big part of our team is our character and how we kind of make sure we look after the younger generation coming up. We’ve had some younger guys at our practices throughout the year. We really want to make sure that this sport becomes and still is a tradition in the town of Napanee.”
A Dundalk Pirates runner slides in safe as Express catcher Joe Mick awaits a relay throw to home during an early bird tournament hosted by the Express in May. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
The Express will open their tournament Aug. 2 against Nova Scotia, first pitch at 11:30 a.m.
A full schedule can be found at https://softball.ca/u20mens/event/schedule.
The host committee is still accepting volunteers to help throughout the six-day tournament to assist with the canteen, barbecue, admission gate and to sell tickets for the 50/50 draw. Volunteers will get a day pass for the day they volunteer on. For more, contact u20napanee@gmail.com.
This will mark the sixth time Napanee has hosted Nationals for this age level, which has expanded from U18 to U19 and now U20 over the years. Napanee has hosted in 1982, ’88, ’92, 2002 and ’18, with the host team winning it all in 2018. Napanee is also slated to host the tournament again in 2023.