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Masters Report
Ten teams competed in Cambridge, in the 2014 Masters Championship. Waterdown Hammer won the Bill Danford Trophy as the A Division champions and St. Thomas won the Gene Rousselle Trophy as B champions for the second year in a row.
Individual award winners were as follows: the Jack Cook Award was won by Rod Favreau from the Waterdown Hammer; Tim Yantzi, also from the Waterdown Hammer, won the Cliff Belch pitching award. Two new awards were also presented: the Bob Abbot Most Valuable Player A Division was captured by Rod Favreau; and the George Ryder MVP B Division had Dan Beecroft as the first time winner.
Co-Tournament Director Gene Rousselle used convenors Ron Heagle, Sandy Heidman, Dave Birnie, and Bill DeHann. The Host Cambridge Sports Complex fulfilled all duties required by them including the $500.00 donation to the scholarship fund. UIC Trevor Topping did an excellent job, as did the entire umpire crew. Tournament highlights included the Ontario Masters Fastball Hall of Fame ceremony in which Doug Charlton, Sam Forbes, Ewart Timlin, Wayne Wells and Darren Zack were the 2014 class. Pitcher Dan Beecroft pitched a perfect game and the A division winning Waterdown Hammer only gave up 8 runs in 5 ball games.
Observations and Recommendations for 2015: The Masters Division is growing and will continue to do so. We had 8 teams in 2013, 10 in 2014, and I hope to grow it to at least 12 teams next year. I would like to see, under the Men’s Committee, a separate Masters Committee consisting of an OASA executive member as chair and have grass roots masters players, coaches etc as members. This group would report to the Men’s Committee. Also I would recommend one rule change to go to the AGM.
Rule Change: Page 61 Player Eligibility, change 4.1.b The age for eligible Masters players is that they must be at least 40 years of age or turning 40 in the year of the event.
Note: Underage players who were on 2014 rosters will have their eligibility grandfathered into the 2015 tournament. Rationale: This will fall in line with Softball Canada and Western Canadian tournaments.
As part of my report I would like to thank Garry Waugh and Paddy Fitzgerald-Nolan for their assistance; Gene Rousselle, co-director; and Dave Birnie who was a tremendous help in tournament organization and publicity. As B division winners St Thomas has earned the right to represent the OASA at the 2015 Western Canadians and I would be remiss in not mentioning the Mississauga Rusty Jiggers who won the Softball Canada Masters championship in Charlottetown, PEI.
My sincere thanks to the OASA for allowing me to co-ordinate the Masters Division. The 2015 tournament will be held in St. Clements July 17-19 and hosted by Waterloo Classics.
Respectfully submitted
Mike Goodridge
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