"If you find a woman who likes softball, you ought to marry her,"
Young Rebels a team on rise
Everything about nationals is different
By Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen
August 11, 2009
It is hitting home to the Orléans Rebels that they're not playing junior girls fastpitch any more.
Case in point: During an exhibition against a Quebec team on the weekend, the second game of a doubleheader had to be delayed so the Quebec catcher could breastfeed her baby. Her infant settled, she pulled the mask on and went back to work behind the plate. Play ball.
On the senior softball circuit, the Rebels are youngsters themselves, relatively speaking, easily the youngest team in this week's Canadian Softball Championships at Kitchener.
Last year, the Rebels finished sixth in the junior nationals (under-23) at Summerside, P.E.I. With the same core group intact, they would have had a strong chance to win this year's junior tournament, but opted instead to jump to senior because two of their best players, Hayley Fleming and Laura Gallant, were 24. Most of the Rebels are 21 or 22, and a couple are just 19.
"This will be great experience," head coach Scott Searle says. "Our goal is to finish in the top five or six. We're really playing for two to three years down the road."
Searle ought to know. He doubles as University of Ottawa head coach, and several players belong to both the Rebels and the Gee-Gees.
Jillian Taylor and Emily Ernst are the team's top pitchers, and the Rebels have picked up a third pitcher, Raegan Turner, who also joined last year's junior Orléans club from a Windsor midget team.
Taylor and Ernst are a complementary combination because Taylor throws heat and Ernst specializes in softer junk.
"Hopefully we'll have less anxiety than we did last year," says Taylor, about to enter the teaching program at U of O this fall.
Everything about the nationals is different from the usual summer tournaments, Taylor says. Players wear accreditation tags, deal with media and see names in the lineup and across the diamond they know from world tournaments and Olympic Games.
For example, the powerhouse Kitchener team, which Orléans was leading 3-0 in the sixth inning of the provincials before losing 5-3 in seven, has four Olympians in its lineup, Searle says.
Canada won a silver medal in the Pan Am championship in Venezuela this past week, and several of those competitors are flying home to take part in the national tournament. Taylor, who earned a scholarship at Webber International University in Florida before returning home to attend U of O, was MVP of last year's provincials, and her coach says she is only getting better.
Taylor's father, Jim, is manager of the Rebels.
"This team is special because of its hard work and ability to keep the core group together ... we have a lot of '86- and '87-born players," he says.
Everyone on the team has a sense of something big happening down the road, partly because the Kitchener team is older and expected to break up soon, partly because the Rebels have become a team on the rise.
Jillian Taylor is awed that Cambridge's No. 3 and 4 hitters, Laura Gallant and Jess Scholey, jumped to the Orléans roster when the Cambridge club split up. Just like that: a three and four hitter.
"Huge add-ons," Taylor says.
In Kitchener, the Rebels play six round-robin games, two each day Wednesday through Friday, but Thursday stands out with games against host Kitchener and defending champion Manitoba.
Searle hopes to survive by playing some small ball, bunt-and-run. He has seven or eight base stealing threats, a unique asset.
"Hopefully our youth and athleticism will keep us going over five, six days," Searle says.
Somehow, between the demands of coaching a university team and summer women's team, Searle found time to get engaged to Renfrew's Lisa Hawley a few weeks ago. Hawley's enjoyment of the game was a factor.
"If you find a woman who likes softball, you ought to marry her," Searle says.
The couple plan to do just that ... get married, next summer.
Right after the national championships.
Attack Grounded
Another strong fastpitch team from the area fell short in its bid to reach the Eastern Canadian championships. The Ottawa Valley Attack bantam girls team needed to finish among the top three clubs in Ontario to advance to New Brunswick, but dug itself a hole by losing the provincial opener against Brampton in London on Friday night. That left the Attack in the position of having to win five consecutive games on Saturday. The Attack did win the first three but then lost to Brantford 2-1. Led by pitchers Jean Cardona and Aisha O'Connor, both of Pembroke, and hitters Tawny Godin of Petawawa and Grace Lonergan of Ottawa, the Attack still finished fifth in Ontario. Overall, Cardona had a record of 19-4-1, O'Connor was 18-7-2 (it's all in the family, as sister Amber O'Connor is a catcher for the Rebels), Godin hit seven home runs and Lonergan finished with a batting average above .400. Who says the days of the .400 hitter are over?
Everything about nationals is different
By Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen
August 11, 2009
It is hitting home to the Orléans Rebels that they're not playing junior girls fastpitch any more.
Case in point: During an exhibition against a Quebec team on the weekend, the second game of a doubleheader had to be delayed so the Quebec catcher could breastfeed her baby. Her infant settled, she pulled the mask on and went back to work behind the plate. Play ball.
On the senior softball circuit, the Rebels are youngsters themselves, relatively speaking, easily the youngest team in this week's Canadian Softball Championships at Kitchener.
Last year, the Rebels finished sixth in the junior nationals (under-23) at Summerside, P.E.I. With the same core group intact, they would have had a strong chance to win this year's junior tournament, but opted instead to jump to senior because two of their best players, Hayley Fleming and Laura Gallant, were 24. Most of the Rebels are 21 or 22, and a couple are just 19.
"This will be great experience," head coach Scott Searle says. "Our goal is to finish in the top five or six. We're really playing for two to three years down the road."
Searle ought to know. He doubles as University of Ottawa head coach, and several players belong to both the Rebels and the Gee-Gees.
Jillian Taylor and Emily Ernst are the team's top pitchers, and the Rebels have picked up a third pitcher, Raegan Turner, who also joined last year's junior Orléans club from a Windsor midget team.
Taylor and Ernst are a complementary combination because Taylor throws heat and Ernst specializes in softer junk.
"Hopefully we'll have less anxiety than we did last year," says Taylor, about to enter the teaching program at U of O this fall.
Everything about the nationals is different from the usual summer tournaments, Taylor says. Players wear accreditation tags, deal with media and see names in the lineup and across the diamond they know from world tournaments and Olympic Games.
For example, the powerhouse Kitchener team, which Orléans was leading 3-0 in the sixth inning of the provincials before losing 5-3 in seven, has four Olympians in its lineup, Searle says.
Canada won a silver medal in the Pan Am championship in Venezuela this past week, and several of those competitors are flying home to take part in the national tournament. Taylor, who earned a scholarship at Webber International University in Florida before returning home to attend U of O, was MVP of last year's provincials, and her coach says she is only getting better.
Taylor's father, Jim, is manager of the Rebels.
"This team is special because of its hard work and ability to keep the core group together ... we have a lot of '86- and '87-born players," he says.
Everyone on the team has a sense of something big happening down the road, partly because the Kitchener team is older and expected to break up soon, partly because the Rebels have become a team on the rise.
Jillian Taylor is awed that Cambridge's No. 3 and 4 hitters, Laura Gallant and Jess Scholey, jumped to the Orléans roster when the Cambridge club split up. Just like that: a three and four hitter.
"Huge add-ons," Taylor says.
In Kitchener, the Rebels play six round-robin games, two each day Wednesday through Friday, but Thursday stands out with games against host Kitchener and defending champion Manitoba.
Searle hopes to survive by playing some small ball, bunt-and-run. He has seven or eight base stealing threats, a unique asset.
"Hopefully our youth and athleticism will keep us going over five, six days," Searle says.
Somehow, between the demands of coaching a university team and summer women's team, Searle found time to get engaged to Renfrew's Lisa Hawley a few weeks ago. Hawley's enjoyment of the game was a factor.
"If you find a woman who likes softball, you ought to marry her," Searle says.
The couple plan to do just that ... get married, next summer.
Right after the national championships.
Attack Grounded
Another strong fastpitch team from the area fell short in its bid to reach the Eastern Canadian championships. The Ottawa Valley Attack bantam girls team needed to finish among the top three clubs in Ontario to advance to New Brunswick, but dug itself a hole by losing the provincial opener against Brampton in London on Friday night. That left the Attack in the position of having to win five consecutive games on Saturday. The Attack did win the first three but then lost to Brantford 2-1. Led by pitchers Jean Cardona and Aisha O'Connor, both of Pembroke, and hitters Tawny Godin of Petawawa and Grace Lonergan of Ottawa, the Attack still finished fifth in Ontario. Overall, Cardona had a record of 19-4-1, O'Connor was 18-7-2 (it's all in the family, as sister Amber O'Connor is a catcher for the Rebels), Godin hit seven home runs and Lonergan finished with a batting average above .400. Who says the days of the .400 hitter are over?
posted by fitzroyfastball | 8/11/2009 09:45:00 am
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