Forty-four years ago, in August and September, I was fortunate enough to be associated as an assistant coach and manager with an amazing team of talented teenagers. Coaching third base across the diamond from my good friend Al Whitfield, who was the head coach and directed traffic from the first base coaches’ box this amazing group of players won two major championships and beat a team in a semi-final that had never been beaten in a playoff series ever in the Kingston area.
Up to the long weekend in August we had played 65 ball games. The league we played in was the Circle Fastball League, the top softball league between Cornwall and Oshawa. Led by a hard throwing left hander from Bath, Peter Finn, and a drop ball specialist from Wolfe Island Bernie Fargo, we finished fourth in the eight team league that had teams as far west as Picton.
Playing out of King Street Park in Napanee the town hosted the Junior “A” OASA Championship that long weekend in August. Losing our second game to the Owen Sound Selects led by Brad Underwood who in future years would become one of Canada’s top National Softball Team pitchers.
For the next two days the Napanee Mall Juniors had to win their way from the bottom bracket and then win a game on Sunday morning for the chance to face Underwood and the Selects once again. Ron Harper, an import pitcher for us from Caledonia who played in weekend tournaments all summer, won that game to set the plate for what was to come.
A monumental task now faced these 14 players from Napanee. Win two more games. The Napanee boys beat Owen Sound in back to back games with Peter Finn throwing both games. Brad Underwood lost both games to us on that day. Never again in the next 20 years would Underwood ever again lose two games in a row in a tournament.
In front of over 1,000 fans Napanee won the OASA Junior “A” championship for 1980.
However, the team still had games to play. They started a semi-final league series against the New York Yankees of Kingston softball. The powerful Verona Merchants, a magnificent softball team led by two of the top pitchers in Kingston. Jim Cashman and Al McCallum.
In this seven game series neither team won a home game. Napanee won in seven games, beating Verona 3-2 in the final game in Verona before 1,500 fans. Peter Finn shone, with the backing of these young teenagers who beat Verona playing small ball, defense and timely hitting causing the mighty Verona Merchants to lose a playoff series for the first time in their 15 year history. Some 9,000 fans packed King Street in Napanee and the Lions Club Field in Verona. The draw? Watching one of the most talented pitchers ever to come out of the Napanee area, Peter Finn slay the dragon, the Verona Merchants.
Sadly, in the next series we lost four games to two to a team led by the giant of a man Bob Storing. We had to forfeit two games because we had players gone to university and trying out for Junior “A” hockey.
To top everything off these young players then received an invitation to the Tournament of Champions in Cornwall, Labour Day weekend. To get an invitation to this prestigious event a team had to win a softball tournament east of Gananoque. In fact, that year the boys won over $3,650 in these tournaments. We won two grand championships, plus a couple of Consolation finals.
What did they do in Cornwall against the top Intermediate teams from Ottawa Valley and Quebec? They won it all. Playing eight games and scoring eleven runs. Tight defense, top notch pitching and our ability to play small ball to win games.
These young men have now mostly retired from their careers and sadly three of them have passed on.
Napanee has had many great teams in the years after 1980. But the Napanee Mall Juniors will always hold a special place with Al Whitfield, myself (Rick Revelle), Dave Long our assistant Manager, plus these amazing players:
Bob “Stork” Abrams
Nelson Bell
Scott Brady
Lester Brown
Brad “Huck” Conway
Peter Finn
Ron Harper
Chris Maracle
Greg Mills
Paul Roantree
Steve Roantree
Rick Senior
Thanks for the memories:
Larry Asselstine – deceased
Paul Blakley – deceased
Bernie Fargo – deceased
Graham Sirham – deceased