Happy holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all blog readers. Thanks for your support and encouragement throughout the year.

With some time off over the holidays, I have a little story about the Caveman that I hope to post soon, so check back for that early in the new year if you are interested.

I also wanted to pass on some sad news about a couple of recent deaths in the area - young guys (relatively speaking) who died too early and were involved in fastball and other sports.

Terry McIntrye from Renfrew is someone that I knew through officiating hockey. Terry also umpired fastball in the Ottawa Valley. He died at 55 in late November. Info here.

Chris Millerwood from Carp was involved in broomball and was also fastball player in the old West Carleton League. He died just this week at 46. Info here.

Cancer sucks.

Quebec to host two major tournaments this summer

An article (in French) in "La voix du Sud" site talks about two major tournaments in the Quebec City area this summer.

The second annual international Bellechasse tournament will be hosted this year on June 12 - 14 in Sainte-Claire and Saint-Gervais, Quebec with some big prize money on the line. Last year the tourney drew only six teams but there was big prize money and from all accounts was a "monster success".

The same towns will also be hosting the Softball Canada Men's Nationals, which interestingly will be hosted from August 26 - 30, not on Labour Day weekend in 2015.

Senior Men's National Team annoucement

Congrats to those names, especially Mathieu Roy on being a "core player".

2015 Senior Men’s National Softball Team Announcements

Published on December 12, 2014

(Ottawa, ON) Following the timelines of the Men’s National Team Selection Criteria, the Team Canada coaching staff has identified a group of seven (7) core players and thirteen (13) additional players who have been invited to attend the 2015 Senior Men’s National Team Selection Camp that will be held in May, 2015. Seventeen (17) of these athletes will have the opportunity represent Canada at the ISF Men’s World Championship from June 26 to July 5, 2015 in Saskatoon, SK while fifteen (15) will be named to the Pan American Games roster, with that event scheduled for July 12 to 18, 2015 in Ajax, ON.

In addition to the announcement of the core players and selection camp roster, Softball Canada is also pleased to announce that John Hill (St. John’s, NL) will join the Senior Men’s National Team coaching staff as an assistant coach. John has most recently coached the 3 Cheers Pub club team from Newfoundland and Labrador that won three consecutive Gold medals at the Senior Men’s Canadian Championships, adding a silver and a bronze over the team’s five year existence.

“John brings a wealth of experience to the coaching staff and has worked with many of Canada’s top athletes throughout the years” stated Mike Branchaud, Manager – National Teams and Canadian Championships. “His track record of success will help bring a winning attitude this summer.”

The seven (7) core players identified by the Men’s National Team coaching staff are:

Name	Hometown
Sean Cleary	Harbour Main, NL
Jeff Ellsworth	St. Lawrence, PEI
Brandon Horn	Waterloo, ON
Paul Koert	Brooklin, ON
Derek Mayson	North Vancouver, BC
Stephen Mullaley	Freshwater, NL
Mathieu Roy	St. Gervais, QC

The following is the list of additional players from the Men’s National Team Athlete Pool who have been invited to attend the 2015 Senior Men’s National Team Selection Camp:

Name	Hometown
Bryan Abrey	Richmond, BC
Brian Banner	Sooke, BC
Ryan Boland	St. John's, NL
Blair Ezekiel	Harbour Main, NL
Brad Ezekiel	Harbour Main, NL
Ian Fehrman	Townsend, ON
Jason Hill	St. John's, NL
Devon McCullough	Saskatoon, SK
Jason Sanford	Durham, NS
Kevin Schellenberg	Squamish, BC
Don Scott	Stratford, ON
Andy Skelton	Scarborough, ON
Ryan Wolfe	Melbourne, ON

The coaching staff reserves the right to add or remove athletes from this list at any time.

uOttawa Softball Stands with Stonewall‏

from Scott Searle

The uOttawa Women's Softball team continued its tradition of supporting social causes by standing with members of the LGTBQ community at their home games this season.

The team and its athletes are proud of the tradition of dedicating home games to raising awareness of social issues and was recognized in the uOttawa student newspaper:  http://thefulcrum.ca/sports/gay-rights-gee-gees/