Day 1 of Softball Canada's Senior Men's National Team Selection Camp
(Kitchener, ON) - Softball Canada's Senior Men's National Team opened their selection camp at Peter Hallman Ball Yard in Kitchener, Ontario. Thirty of Canada's best softball athletes took part in two inter-squad games in their bid to be selected to the 2006 Senior Men's National Team who will compete at the VII Pan American Championships in Hermosillo, Mexico from September 29th to October 9th.
The two inter-squad games consisted of a modified five inning softball game. In order to evaluate defensive situations, runners were automatically added to the bases in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th inning.
Hitting was the strength of the athletes in day one as eight homeruns were hit in only ten innings of play. Ryan Wolfe (Melbourne, Ontario), Pat Graham (Ontario), Sean O'Brien (St. John's Newfoundland), Dale Levy (Ontario), Derek Mayson, Scott Newitt (British Columbia) all connected for homeruns and Darren Box (Edmonton, Alberta) connected for two.
"Today was a very offensive day" admitted Mark Smith, Senior Men's National Team Head Coach. "It is great to see the bats going so well this early in the year. This can only mean good things for Team Canada."
The hitting continued with Ian Fehrman (Ontario) going 2 for 3 with a triple, Scott Newitt (British Columbia) going 2 for 2, Bill Simmons (Ontario) going 2 for 3 and Keith Mackintosh (Saskatchewan) going 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's.
Both Rick Smith (Duncan, British Columbia) and Frank Cox (Ontario) recorded wins in the circle as Paul Koert (Ontario) and Gerald Muizelaar (Shubenacadia, Nova Scotia) recorded a loss.
The camp will continue on Saturday May 20thwith 3 inter-squad games and Sunday May 21st with another 3 inter-squad games. The final roster of the team will be announced no later than August 23rd, 2006.
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For more information, please contact:
Rick Picard
Director, Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
rpicard@softball.ca
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
