Maritime Fastpitch League
July 29, 2011
Stewiacke, NS
This past weekend (July 23-24), the Maritime Fastpitch League out of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island held their league
championships, in Stewiacke, N.S.
The team that I work with were the eventual champions. I'm with the
Nova Scotia Murphy's Fish & Chips Junior Eagles, who will be heading
to Napanee, Ontario, in just over a week to compete at the Canadian
U-23 National Fast Pitch Championships. I have been trying to get some
coverage for our team in the local papers in Nova Scotia, but with
little success. Our major sponsor, Dave Anderson, suggested that I
send something your way. He says that many people follow your site and
a report on our league title and a few notes about our team might
interest your readers.
Therefore, I am attaching a summary of our four games en route to the
Maritime League title and a bit of info on our junior team. Hopefully
you can find a place for it on your site and/or contact me for further
info that you could use in future.
- Darrell Coldwell
2011 Nova Scotia Murphy's Fish & Chips Junior Eagles
Treasurer/Statistician/Website Manager
MARITIME FASTPITCH LEAGUE – CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT SUMMARY
FORMAT: 5-team double-elimination
TEAMS & RANKING:
- Blackburn Transport Pepper Jack’s
- Nova Scotia Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles
- Antigonish A’s
- Charlottetown Gahan House Fawcett’s
- Fredericton Maritime Poker Twins
GAME #1 – Saturday, July 23, 2011 – 1:00 p.m.
Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles – 12 Fredericton Maritime Poker Twins – 2
HIGHLIGHTS: Myles Coldwell paces the Junior Eagles with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI’s as they defeat Fredericton in a game, which was called after 5 innings due to the 7-run mercy rule. Justin Schofield picked up the win on the mound with 3 innings of shutout pitching, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 5 batters. Bryan Gillis added 2 singles for the Eagles.
GAME #2 – Saturday, July 23, 2011 – 5:00 p.m.
Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles – 0 Blackburn Transport Pepper Jack’s – 7
HIGHLIGHTS: Trailing 2-0 going into the 7th inning, reliever Justin Schofield hits Blackburn leadoff hitter Trevor Lowthers with a pitch. Lowthers charges the mound an throws a few punches, which results in both benches clearing as tempers flared between the two teams. When the dust had settled and several ejections were announced by plate umpire Lou Davis, the Junior Eagles did not have enough substitutes remaining to field 9 players, so had to suffer a 7-0 forfeit and their first loss of the tournament.
GAME #3 – Sunday, July 24, 2011 – 12:00 p.m. (semi-final)
Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles – 3 Charlottetown Gahan House Fawcett’s – 1
HIGHLIGHTS: Trailing 1-0 going into the 5th inning, Myles Coldwell launches a 2-run homerun to left field off of Charlottetown starter Mitch Hardy to give the Murphy’s Fish & Chips team a lead they would never relinquish, because of the stellar pitching of starter Justin Schofield. Schofield tossed 7 innings for the win giving up only 1 unearned run and 3 hits, while striking out 11 Fawcett batters. Tyler Whynot added a triple and Adam Day stroked 2 singles for the winners.
GAME #4 – Sunday, July 24, 2011 – 2:00 p.m. (final)
Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles – 3 Blackburn Transport Pepper Jack’s – 2
HIGHLIGHTS: Pitcher Justin Schofield was again outstanding tossing all 8 innings in the extra inning victory for the Murphy’s team. After taking a 2-0 lead after 3 innings, the Eagles allowed Blackburn to claw back into the game tying the game 2-2 after 4 innings. From there, Blackburn pitcher, Matt Bramwell, and Schofield put on a pitching clinic, while not allowing another run after 7 innings. Each team would start with a runner on second base according to international tie-breaking rules. In the top of the 8th inning, Kody Blois came through with a clutch single to drive in the go ahead run for the Junior Eagles. Blackburn managed to get runners to second and third base with no outs in the bottom of the inning, but Schofield was able to sandwich a ground out to the pitcher between to two strikeouts to end the threat and claim victory for the Eagles. Trent MacKeil added a triple and Trent MacDonald had 2 singles for the champions.
Nova Scotia Murphy’s Fish & Chips Junior Eagles
Team Bio:
As the only Nova Scotia representatives at the U-23 level last season, the coaching staff and a few returning players decided to again create a team this season to travel to Napanee. With 9 returning players from last season’s silver medalists, but only 3 of those starters, they knew that much work had to be done to be competitive. Add to that, Justin Schofield was the only returning pitcher from the 2010 squad. Therefore, finding new players was a priority. Luckily, several players were moving up from the midget ranks that had played with many of these players in the past and a few that had taken a year or two away from fastball decided to return to the fold.
Now competition had to be found, which is not easy to do in Atlantic Canada. Fortunately, the Eagles were able to become members of the Maritime Fastpitch League that was comprised of senior men’s teams from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. The 5-team league schedule consisted of 4 weekend tournaments followed by a league championship tournament. The Murphy’s Junior Eagles had their share of ups and downs during these tournaments, but did manage to win one tournament and place second in another. Then, in a very memorable league tournament, were able to defeat the Halifax Blackburn Transport Pepper Jacks 3-2 in extra innings during the championship game. The remainder of the Eagles games, in preparation for the Nationals, has been against senior and intermediate level teams. Although in a rebuilding year, the team is hopeful that they can be competitive against the best U-23 teams in the country.
As stated earlier, Justin Schofield is our only returning pitcher from last season’s team, but the coaching staff recognizes that our success will be based upon all pitchers providing several innings of work. New pitchers Rene` D’entremont, Kody Blois, and Bryan Gillis will be called upon in key situations, as will Patrick Avery who played, but did not pitch at the 2010 Nationals. Teams can never have enough pitching, so the Eagles are hoping that import, Jonathan Roy from Quebec, can solidify the pitching staff.
The 2011 edition of the Murphy’s Fish & Chips Eagles is much different than the 2010 team. That team could manufacture runs using “small ball” tactics, but was always a threat to take the ball deep at any given time. This year’s squad will rely more on keeping the scores low and manufacturing more runs. There are no real “sluggers” on the team, although Tyler Whynot returns to the starting line-up again and the coaches hope he can have another successful tournament.
The coaching staff is counting on a strong defensive performance from this group in order for us to medal at the tournament. Since the 2 or 3-run homerun is not as common this season, the Eagles must use great defense to keep games close. The Nova Scotia team is solid defensively in all areas of the field and believes that this will be its strength in Napanee.
