The game lives on

I think there a lot of things to like about men's fastpitch softball. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably think so too. 

One of the things I feel is important is the long time connections made over the years through fastball, and how involvement in the game can continue with new generations.

Consider this photo.

This picture was taken at the Bay Bash tournament up in Campbell’s Bay, QC in July 2003. That's Al Kuehl of Shawville at bat, and I'm pretty sure Chad Costello of Micksburg is catching. 

Bay Bash was a really fun tournament featuring some great softball. In the red circle in the upper left corner, you can see me in a black jacket watching Al bat. To the left of me, in the West Carleton jersey, is Don Rorwick. We were probably playing the next game after Micksburg vs Shawville or maybe had just finished.

I only knew Al a bit then, as the guy who ran the Shawville team.

If Al and I would have seen each other in the beer tent at Bay Bash afterwards (and I am almost certain we did!) we may have said a passing "hello". But we are friends now, and he likes to talk about softball as much as I do.

Twenty-three years later, Al and I play on the same Shawville Men's Fastpitch League team. 

And what's even better is this past weekend Al's son Cade played on the Tri-City Logsplitters team in the Glen tournament, alongside my sons Fitzroy Junior, the Caveman as well as Don's sons (and my boys' cousins) Matthew and Dylan Rorwick, and they all had a great time doing so.

Here is a picture from this past weekend showing the Logsplitters being half made up by our five boys.

Imagine telling Al, Don and I in that beer tent that almost a quarter century later our boys (some of whom didn't even exist then - only Fitzroy Junior and Matthew were born and were babies at the time) would be teammates in a future tournament!

Two photos, separated by 23 years, demonstrating a cross-generational connection of our game. This is something to embrace, celebrate and be proud of. Some say our men's game is dying, and while it will never will be as big as it was "in the day", it is connections like this which help the game live on.

Osgoode Chiefs win U19 Provincial B title

The Osgoode Chiefs U19 team won the Provincial B title on the weekend in Woodstock. The Chiefs, who participate in the Glen Cairn Men's Fastball League won three straight games over Glencoe and Tara (twice) in the four team event to earn gold.

Brendan Hennessy, Joseph Mick and Owen Brown of the Osgoode Chiefs

Fitzroy Junior's team wins U16 gold

Fitzroy Junior's U16 house league team won the title in the local league which features six teams (Fitzroy, Carp, McNab 1, McNab 2, Kinburn and Stittsville).

The Fitzroy Bantams went undefeated, 15-0-1 on the season and finished with the title win 11-6 over McNab 1 tonight.

Back row: Coach, The Cheese, ConMan, Kier-Bot, I-Man, Hop
Middle row: Fitzroy Junior, Rookie, Jake, Lefty, Nicky, Dilly, Coach #2
Front row: Coleman Stove, Spence

U16 Eliminations in McNab/Braeside this weekend

The Ontario Amateur Softball Association U16 Boys Elimination tournament will be held this weekend in McNab/Braeside to determine the teams that will represent the province at the Nationals in Innerkip, ON in August.

Games will be  held at McNab Centre Park on Calabogie Road starting at 3 pm on Friday June 29, with the final game scheduled to start 1 pm on Canada Day.

There are 14 teams participating, including the Osgoode Chiefs. Osgoode is made up of players from the Osgoode, Fitzroy and Micksburg areas. Several relatives of GOFLers past and present are playing including Hudson Collins (Kevin's son), Tyler Branchaud (Mike's son), Joseph Mick (Jamey's son), Conrad Daze (Charlie Ross' nephew) and Owen Brown (some blogger's kid).

More information about the event is available at https://oasa.ca/tournament/u16-bantam-eliminations/.

Fitzroy Junior hits a bomb

Tonight at his bantam game, Fitzroy Junior hit a home run, legit bomb, straight away centre at the Carp diamond. Note, he is 14 years old and weighs 125 pounds.

He was some excited rounding the bases.

The opposing pitcher was no ace, but still......I was shocked. As it was rising out towards the fence, I was briefly speechless, then screamed "GET OUT", and there it was over the fence. I am not sure I have ever seen Fitzroy Junior that happy on a ball diamond.

Memories made tonight in Carp!

Beautiful May weather

The weather in eastern Ontario and western Quebec has been somewhat whacky this spring. As per an earlier post, there has been some extreme flooding. There has also been some cold weather.

On Monday night, Fitzroy Junior's bantam team played their season opener against McNab. During the third inning, the game featured a snow squall! Nice weather for May 8.

Softball not the only summer past time for Fitzroy Junior and the Caveman

....from this week's West Carleton Review

Absent from the photo: Their husband / father who was putting clubs in the car.

West Carleton house league softball wraps up

Saturday was the final day for house league softball in West Carleton for the atom, mite, squirt and peewee teams, ending things of with a softball extravaganza in Carp. West Carleton house league softball traditionally wraps up in mid-June, with "select" softball continuing until August.

The eight Atom teams and eight Mites teams wrapped up things with a "Fun Day", each team playing two games. Atom is a "coach pitch" level for boys and girls under 8, and mites is for boys and girls under 10. There was representation from teams in Kinburn, Fitzroy, Carp, Constance Bay and Dunrobin. The Caveman plays on a mites team in Fitzroy and he ensures me that they won both games at the Fun Day, even though we don't really keep score.

In the Squirt/Peewee girls (U14) division, Kinburn were A champs, defeating Carp in the final. Fitzroy / Dunrobin finished third.

For Squirt Boys (U12), Kinburn upset Fitzroy in the A final, coming back in the sixth and final inning to take the title. In the B final, Carp prevailed over a much improved Dunrobin team. Caveman was a "call up" in the B final, playing as a special guest star for Carp.

At the Peewee Boys (U14) level, Fitzroy #1 capped an undefeated season by winning the A Final over Fitzroy #2. Fitzroy Junior is a member of the A champs, coached by yours truly. Kinburn lost in the A semi-final. The B final had Carp #2 beating Carp#1.

The wrap up tournament for Bantam (U16) and Midget (U18) boys and girls, combining West Carleton and Stittsville teams, is next weekend.

Something to look forward to

Wednesday May 20, at 6:30 pm, Fitzroy Harbour "B" diamond should be something to mark down in your calendar as a 'must see' softball event this spring.

Fitzroy Junior has recently registered to be a junior umpire for West Carleton minor softball - and his first assignment behind the plate is a Mites U10 game that night.

As luck would have it, the Caveman is the scheduled starter on the slab for Fitzroy Mites Team #1 that night.

I am looking forward to seeing how this plays out, both at the diamond and at home. I may have to video the proceedings.

Caveman's report card

Regular blog readers likely know I have two sons - Fitzroy Junior is my eldest at 12 and the Caveman just turned 10. 

When most of my friends in fastball see me and talk about the non-fastball stories on this blog, they usually refer to the Caveman stories and how much they enjoy them. (And I really appreciate the feedback.)

It's not that I love the Caveman any more than Fitzroy Junior. It's just that while Fitzroy Junior is an easy-going kid, intelligent, well-adjusted, and a pleasure to be around, he's not as unintentionally humorous as his younger brother. Few people are, really.

Just a way of comparison, they both recently scored goals for their house league hockey teams. When Fitzroy Junior scored for his peewee team, he gave a quick arm pump, high-fived his line mates and lined up at centre ice.  When the Caveman scored for his atom team recently, there was a diving "celly". Then as he was skating back to centre ice with some music was playing over the public address system, he began a butt-wiggling dance on the left wing with his back to the crowd, perfectly timed to the beat, cracking up every single parent in the stands. (Who all of course look at me at the same time, and I just shrug and say "He gets that from his mother.")

It's not that he's hamming it up for those in attendance - that's just how he acts all day every day, the perfect combination of natural funniness and a naïveté / lack of self-conciousness that allows him to do what he feels without being embarrassed.  

All these stories in the blog about the Caveman are true. I am not creative enough to make them up. Sure, sometimes the scenarios are "edited" a bit for publication, but they are true stories. 

I share the Caveman stories verbally with family, co-workers and "non-softball" friends. Quite frequently the responses are "Man, what a kid. You should be writing this stuff down." Which of course, I am on this blog.

And of course, the Caveman is not really aware that I have effectively been documenting his childhood online for these last six years since this first story about him turned out to be so popular.. He has asked me a few times when he comes to the ball diamond with me during season "How do all these guys know me, Daddy?"  I am not sure how he'll react when he finds out sometime in the future the extent to which I have been writing and sharing this stuff on the Inter-web.

Anyway, the Caveman is a not just a source of laughs. He's actually a really good student (as is his brother). So, in fairness to me spilling the beans on the all the crazy stuff he's done and said since 2009, I am going to give him some proper recognition based on his recent Grade 4 report card that came home this week. Actual quotes, with his real name replaced with "Caveman", below:

[Caveman] is having a wonderful year. He continues to shine in all areas of the curriculum. He is an excellent role model to his peers, as he continues to go above and beyond with all his work.....[Caveman's] focus and participation is exemplary of a student both engrossed in his learning and ready for success. [Caveman] has an outgoing personality and is well liked by all his classmates. He is always looking for ways to help his teacher and classmates. 

Can't say I ever had report card comments like that.

Caveman, the connoisseur

We have previously established on this blog that Caveman likes food - a lot.

A few more stories below to further reinforce this point.

Pre-game meal
This past summer, the Caveman was participating in the OASA Mites (U10) provincial tournament in Springbrook. He and Mrs Fastball were staying in Belleville, as Fitzroy Junior and I were at the Squirt (U12) select provincial tournament in Woodbridge. When Fitzroy Junior got beat out of his tournament, we went to join the Caveman in Belleville.

As I went into the hotel room on Saturday night, I asked what they had for supper that night. Mrs Fastball said "Well, your son had pizza" as she nodded to the box pictured below.

He had demolished an entire Domino's medium pepperoni, all on his own. Even for him, keeping in mind that he is nine years old and weighs 80 pounds, that's either impressive or disgusting, depending on your perspective. Perhaps not surprisingly he didn't need breakfast the next day.....

Creative Christmas breakfast 
Our family tradition is that everyone gets to choose their favourite food for breakfast on Christmas morning. Caveman once again chose pre-packaged risotto (broth-cooked creamy Italian rice dish) which for some reason he really likes. The added twist this year was his risotto-delivery system: as I came into the kitchen that morning, Caveman was tucking into a bowl of risotto, using salt and vinegar potato chips to scoop the rice and then putting each salty conglomeration into his mouth.

Rib dinner to remember
Earlier in December, the Caveman's atom house league hockey team went on a road trip to a tournament in Bradford, north of Toronto. It was exciting for the kids, staying over in a hotel, with a pool, and playing some different teams. After winning their first and losing their second, they needed a big win in their third game to have a chance to advance. The boys did indeed come through with a big win, besting their opponents 7-1 with the Caveman netting two goals.

Caveman was pretty excited about the game, and as the team gathered at Montana's Cookhouse for supper, we awaited the news to hear whether they would advance to the next round the following day or not. As the kids were seated all together, the team manager came into the restaurant and announced that they had indeed advanced to the playoff round. There was much jumping up and down on chairs, cheering and hugging by all the boys.

Caveman asked me if he was allowed to get the full-size adult rib dinner with fries. I knew he'd probably be able to eat it, so I said OK.

Not long after the meals came out, Caveman's linemate came over to me at the parents' table and said "Uh, Caveman is in the bathroom puking!" Several of the kids looked worried and many of the parents also expressed concern.

Turns out that he was so excited and scarfed down all his food so fast, it came back up just as quickly. As I went to help him, I was worried that his good day was ruined. But I didn't have to worry - he just wiped off his mouth and said "I feel better now. Can I eat that cookie for dessert?" Fairly decent "puke and rally" if you ask me.

Mmmm dessert
At our dinner table, Fitzroy Junior is a slow deliberate eater, while as you have probably guessed, Caveman is pretty much always done his supper first.

One night a couple of months ago, Caveman was done well before his older brother. He asked his mother if he could have dessert, and she said yes. He took his dishes to the sink and went off to get a frozen treat. He was somewhat quiet for a while (which often spells trouble).

When Fitzroy Junior finished his supper, he too went to get a treat. A few seconds later we hear from Fitzroy Junior "Arghh gross, yuck!" I asked what the problem was and he told me to look for myself.

As I walked over to the laundry room where we keep the freezer, I passed by the bathroom, where sat the Caveman, sitting on the toilet, naked as he will be on occasion, with the door open (as per usual) sucking on a Fudgesicle. He flashed me a big smile: "Hi Daddy!"

I had to agree with Fitzroy Junior's opinion on this one.

Squirt Select Provincial in Woodbridge this Saturday

Three local teams will be participating in the Squirt Select provincial tournament, a twelve team event to be held in Woodbridge, near Toronto.

Micksburg, Orleans and West Carleton will all be there. Each team plays three games in the round robin then top four advance to playoff round. The tournament is all done on Saturday August 16.

A cheesy minor ball story......

(Note: I am using nicknames instead of real names in this story - but all the nicknames are legit! And the story is true.)

This weekend, the West Carleton minor softball league held its "Championship Weekend". Fitzroy Junior plays Squirts (U12) and I am his coach.

After losing the first game of the season, we ran the table with 11 straight wins to go to the A Final versus our rivals from Kinburn.

Saturday morning was the final game, and it was a very well played match, especially by Squirt house league standards.

With the final set for six innings, I had to divvy up the innings for my pitchers - in our league, no chucker can go more that three innings. Of the nine players I had available, Fitzroy Junior and The Snake are my two best arms. They split the first four and did well. We were up 9-5. So, I decided to give Cheese a chance to pitch. He is decent - he took the CanPitch clinic and generally does a good job.

However, with about 80 to 100 in attendance, including parents, grandparents and siblings, Cheese was on a big stage. And unfortunately, it didn't go so well. He walked eight consecutive, throwing a total of three strikes in those at bats.

What to do? With a grown up, it's easy. That pitcher wants out. But with an 11 year old, it's tough. I don't want to "pull him" - I haven't done that even once this year. But I also hate to watch him struggle.

It was my toughest coaching decision of the year. After the fourth run was walked in, I brought it the Snake from first base to finish the inning. It wasn't easy. Cheese was in tears on the bench between the fifth and sixth.

Man, did I feel bad. Should I have pulled him earlier? Not pulled him at all? It is only Squirt house league after all.

I felt terrible. Our team was down 10-9 and I had a kid bawling and as you can imagine spirits were not high on the Fitzroy bench.

In our half of the fifth, we faced the Kinburn ace - The Bird - in his third and final inning. We went three up three down. Things were not looking good for Fitzroy to defend our Squirt title that we had won in 2013 with pretty much all the same boys.

I knew we had to keep them off the board to have a chance in the sixth. Fitzroy Junior got the ball. He began the season not wanting to pitch at all - memories of a line drive drilling him in the forearm last year still lingered - but he eventually came around about game four of the season and was convinced to go back on the slab. He can throw strikes consistently which is obviously important in Squirt house league. And he has also developed the "Mick Changeup" and uses it well. Junior did me proud in the top of the sixth, setting down the Kinburn batters in order.

This set up the bottom of the sixth, with us down by a single run. A quick pep talk before we went to bat and fingers crossed in the coach's box. Thanks to KO, Fitzroy Junior and the Hop, we manufactured a run to tie it. If we went to extra innings any pitcher could throw. That meant seeing The Bird again - and when he is on, which was for the final, our boys have trouble scoring against him. We pretty much needed to win it now against their second pitcher while we had the chance. But now, with a runner on third and two out, who was at the plate?

Cheese.

The first pitch was right up the pipe. He froze. Strike one.

The second pitch was about a foot over his head. He swung. Strike two.

The crowd was even bigger now as the Peewee players and their relatives waiting for the next game were in the stands watching the drama.

Oh no, I thought. If this poor kid strikes out he might quit for good, and Fitzroy isn't a big place, I need all the athletes I can get.

Next pitch was right up the middle. And Cheese swung - hard. He hit it a nice flare, right over the shortstop's head, and it fell onto the grass, scoring the Hop from third to win the game, a walk off RBI single. Cheese ran to first, started going to second, then realized what had happened, turned around, looked at the bench with a mile-wide grin, and was promptly mobbed by his teammates celebrating the victory. If there were tears, they were tears of relief.

A great way to end a fun season, and hopefully he'll be back to play softball next season. I think he will be.

The thrill of (Caveman) victory and the agony of a bad haircut

It's been a while since we checked in on the life of the Caveman and Fitzroy Junior, so here goes:

Winner, winner, chicken dinner
This past weekend, the Caveman contributed his team to victory in the Novice B House League final game, to earn them the championship banner. It was a long way from the team he was on last year that didn't win a single league game and he never scored a single goal. It's fun to watch the young kids develop their skills - and it certainly was exciting to see the Caveman score two, including one on a breakway, in the final. With hockey just about over (one last tournament to go), it's now on to hopefully similar success on the softball diamond.

Nice salad
Last week, the Caveman was at the receiving end of an extremely bad haircut from a discount chain, and was told by his older sibling Fitzroy Junior: "It looks like you are wearing a hair toupee." Cruel, but accurate.

Cutting out the middleman
Recently the Caveman and Fitzroy Junior were discussing what they would do if they had a magic crayon. (Apparently, it's a 'thing' in the Minecraft online game.) Fitzroy Junior said he would use the magic crayon to draw a bunch of money, so he could buy some tasty food. Caveman, much more pragmatic said "Why wouldn't you just draw the food?" Good idea to cut out the middleman!

Valentine's Day
Last month at Valentine's Day, the kids in Caveman's grade three class exchanged cards. One little girl, who he is adamant is NOT his girlfriend, gave the Caveman a card that read "Thanks for making peeps smiel! (sic)." I guess he makes "peeps smiel" at school as well as his family and blog readers.

Christmas breakfast request

In the spirit of the holiday season last night while trimming the Christmas tree, Mrs Fastball generously offered to prepare whatever breakfast we wanted on the morning of the 25th. The results are in:

Fitzroy Fastball & Mrs Fastball: Mrs Fastball's family has a tradition of making a turkey on Christmas Eve, and serving up a fresh turkey sandwich for breakfast. Good eatin' and good enough for Mom and Dad.

Fitzroy Junior: Eleven year-old Fitzroy Junior asked for waffles. Mrs Fastball offered to make fresh waffles and use the real maple syrup we have left over from last spring. Fitzroy Junior insisted on Eggos and Aunt Jemima.

Caveman: As  readers of the blog know, the Caveman, eight years old, has an interesting palate. His precise, detailed request for breakfast on Christmas morning:

• Uncle Ben's "Bistro Express" Risotto (one bag)

• Bacon (one pound)

• Hot dog weiners (two, no bun)

• "And for dessert I think I would like a shortbread cookie."

Harbour Ball checklist

The Fitzroy Harbour Men's Fastball League is a recreational 10-team loop and has a few unique characteristics. I have written about a few of these things before.

Now, from this year's experience so far with "Harbour Ball", Fitzroy Fastball presents a checklist.

• 70 year old ump using old school chest protector? CHECK
• Shortstop smoking a Players in the middle of the inning? CHECK
• Pitcher wearing wind pants, with the sleeves cut off from his league issued T-shirt? CHECK
• A neighbourhood dog that got onto the field that we just played around for half an inning because he was too hard to catch? CHECK
• An assortment of softballs in use in the same game i.e. one Kmaster, one Red Dot and an old white unidentifiable ball, possibly a 177S? CHECK
• A player that locked his spikes in the car so instead played the first two innings in a pair of slippers? CHECK (note: he now has a nickname, which took quite a while to come up with - "Slippers")
• A team short a fielder, so 10 year old Fitzroy Junior plays right field and actually makes a couple of plays impressing all attendees? CHECK
• A 53 year old pitcher half-baked from a day on the golf course throwing 15 straight knuckle balls in an inning? CHECK

This is why I hate missing Harbour Ball - you never know what will happen.

Minor fastball fun in West Carleton

This past weekend was the West Carleton Minor Softball tournament with events in Fitzroy Harbour, Kinburn, Constance Bay and the older kids participating in Stittsville.

The Fitzroy Squirts (U12) coached by yours truly, were champions after a 15-7 win over Carp - third year in a row as a champ for Fitzroy Junior in the "A" final . The Fitzroy Peewees (U14) were titlists, beating Carp in the "A" final at Fitzroy.

The Caveman participated in two different tournaments. He was at the fun day for his regular age group, Atom (U8), which is a 'coach-pitch' league, in Constance Bay. Caveman did double duty, getting  'called up' for the mite (U10) tourney as well in Kinburn. While at both levels they don't keep score, the Caveman assures me the won all four games in which he played.

So tired after a big day at the diamond, watching the hockey game last night, Caveman says to me in the world weary voice of those that have experienced monstrous hangovers: "Whuh, I am never doing that again."

Me: "Doing what again?"

Caveman: "Eating four hotdogs. I don't feel good!"

I guess he had his free hotdog at each tournament event and unbeknownst to his mother, somehow scrounged another two free wieners - and was paying for it later that night with a hotdog hangover!

Fitzroy Fastball media appearance

If you happen to be listening to the radio about 8:10am tomorrow morning, you may hear me and Fitzroy Junior on the airwaves. You will have to listen in to hear the details, but suffice it to say, it's fastball related. CBC Radio 91.5 "Ottawa Morning".

Caveman Practice Plan

As all veteran coaches know, you have to have a good plan to make a practice successful.

Since I am coaching Fitzroy Junior's Squirt Boys team, the Caveman's Atom team will be coached by his mom. Caveman is very excited for the upcoming season. While Fitzroy Jr and I were away at practice tonight, the Caveman asked Mrs Fastball what they would be doing at his practice later this week.

Because he was so keen, she let him devise the practice plan - and it actually isn't too bad!  See below, spelling left intact.

1st practist stuff

1. blob tage
2. runing throught 1st base
3. cathing driles
4. infeileding / outfeileding
5. how to hold the bat
6. tell posetions

End!!!!!

While his spelling needs work, it's actually not too bad a plan for a group of 6-8 year olds.

Softball season almost upon us

Word on the street is that Blackburn League has 8 teams again this year, and so does the Glen Cairn Men's League. I believe the New Edinburgh Fastball League is going with 4 teams again. GOFL is expanding from 7 to 8 teams as per an earlier announcement, and the Fitzroy Harbour Men's Fastball League is looking to possibly expand from 8 to 10 teams (including a new midget team) - if they can figure out the diamond time. Fitzroy Harbour kids softball registration is up too, almost 100 children registered. (Population of the greater Fitzroy area: approx 1000.) Good news all around.

The two boys and I were out enjoying the nice weather tonight, practicing our pitching skills as per the orders of "Coach Jamey" from up the line. Then a little batting practice and the next thing you know the girls from next door were outside, a couple of parents joined in, and a fun game of "scrub" softball ensued. Good times. Has me itching for the beginning of fastball season even more than before.

Anyway, after a good game, it was time for bath and bed for the lads. Then I had the unfortunate experience of the following conversation. (Honestly, there is no way I could make this stuff up.)

[voices from the bathroom as they are getting dried off]

Fitzroy Junior: "Caveman! Yuck! Stop chewing your nails!"

Me: "Caveman, listen to your brother. Chewing your fingernails is a bad habit."

Fitzroy Junior: "Daddy, he was actually chewing his toenails."

Me: [SPEECHLESS]

Caveman, exits bathrooms shrugging his shoulders: "Sorry, Daddy."