Feature story on Cory Alkerton

From the Brockville Recorder Times

My favourite quote: "Alkerton is not shy...." No kidding!

Alkerton claims first national gold
Posted By RON SMITH , SPORTS EDITOR

For the first time in his young life, Cory Alkerton is a Canadian champion.
The 20-year-old Alkerton was a pitcher on the Napanee Express, winners of the Canadian junior men's fastball championships in Nova Scotia last weekend.
In front of more than 4,000 fans, the Ontario-based team beat Nova Scotia 6-1 in the championship game for players ages 19 to 23.
"We're the best junior men's fastball team in the second biggest country in the world," said Alkerton. "This is something I've never felt before. It's the best feeling I've had in my life yet, very cool."
It was his first medal from a national championships.
"Finally getting a medal, even better getting a gold medal," said Alkerton, the son of Darcy and Susan.
Full of energy and enthusiasm, Alkerton said it was a fun, 17-hour car drive home after the tournament, talking about the championships.
Alkerton, who played with Napanee at last year's midget boys fastball nationals, enjoyed the emotion of the championship.
"I remember the last out and not much after that," said Alkerton. "It was just a whole pile of guys screaming but you couldn't hear a sound."
On a team with three righthanded pitchers, the lefthanded Alkerton was viewed as the team's relief pitcher, coming in to finish off games.
He did start and finish one game in the round-robin where Napanee ended up with a 7-1 won-loss record.
Otherwise, he finished off games and was the sparkplug to ensure the bench was always lively and into the games.
Napanee wasn't the favoured team in the tournament, noted Alkerton. The team just played well all the way through.
"I never saw a team come through and play like that. We didn't have a game where the guys were sitting back. It was whiteknuckle to the piping, going all the time," said Alkerton.
Alkerton isn't able to relax yet.
He leaves on Friday to play with a Cobourg team at the men's world fastball championships in Michigan.
It's been a busy season for the young leftie.
He played for a men's team in Florida in January, another men's team in Alabama in June and has been pitching for some team, somewhere, every weekend since June.
When he returns from Michigan, he's headed away to Pennsylvania to play in another two-week men's fastball tournament.
Alkerton credits Jason Smith, a top Canadian pitcher who will also be on the Cobourg team in Michigan this weekend, for opening doors, setting him up with contacts and mentoring him in the fastball pitching world.
Alkerton is not shy and is always willing to talk to other pitchers to get better.
Thanks to spending time with fastball Hall of Famer Ted Hoy of Cardinal, Alkerton has learned how to throw varieties of changeups to go with his riseball and dropball.
He's spent time, pen and notebook in hand, talking to Oshawa's Pete Landers, a name well-known to fastball fans.
He's looking forward to learning from legend Darren Zack at the world championships.
"I'm going to be able to talk to Darren Zack. He has an unbelievable amount of knowledge. You can't put a price on that," said Alkerton. "The man was just a genius at getting the ball around the bat. He was one of the best in the world for 20 years."
Alkerton is learning about pitching as opposed to just throwing.
In men's fastball, he knows he can't overpower hitters with his rise and dropball. He has to keep them off-balance with off-speed pitches, changing speeds and location.
The idea is to get hitters out and it doesn't matter how he does it, noted Alkerton.
He's looking ahead past Pennsylvania, trying to find a building already where he can throw through the winter months.