Big season ahead - for Ellsworth

December 18, 2014

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Big season ahead

ORIGINAL STORY by Eric McCarthy

 

Ellsworth preparing for two international events with Team Canada

“I know I was there years ago,” recalls Ellsworth. “I still remember, in Mexico, when they announced my name for the first time.

“Buddy pitched three straight pitches right down the middle of the plate, and I never swung at a pitch. I just smiled and went back to the dugout because I was just in shock that I was actually playing on the national team.”

That was in 2005.

Core players

Softball Canada recently named Ellsworth as one of the core players who’ll compete for Canada at next year’s International Softball Federation (ISF) men’s world championship in Saskatoon, Sask., from June 26 to July 5, and the Pan Am Games in Ajax, Ont., from July 12 to 18.

Team Canada also invited 13 additional players to a national team selection camp in May, which will help identify 17 players for the ISF world championship and 15 for the Pan Am championship.

“Jeff is not only one of the elite players in Canada; he’s one of the best leaders we have on the team,” said Team Canada’s new head coach, John Stuard. “He’s a voice of reason between the coaches and the players.”

Ellsworth, who has indicated his upcoming 10th season with Team Canada will be his last, said 2015 is extra special because his sport’s two biggest world events are on Canadian soil. He’s determined to be ready.

“It’s one of those things where, at the end of all this, at the end of the Pan Am, the final out, I don’t want to say, ‘What if?’

“What if I had trained a little harder, what if I had swung the bat a hundred more times a week? I will not be saying that; I will be very well prepared.”

Stuard is confident Ellsworth could make the national team for the 2017 championships, should he decide to do so, and described him as one of the top batters in the world.

“He’ll always find himself at the upper part of the lineup with the national team,” said Stuard, who added Ellsworth also brings a motivational role. “I could see Jeff as a national team coach in the future.”

Good position

With the international experience of roster members and having two big events in Canada, Ellsworth said Team Canada is in a really good position heading into 2015. “We’re really setting our goals really high for 2015 – double gold,” he stressed.

Yet, his current satisfaction, he said, is seeing teammates put on Team Canada’s jersey for the first time.

“Just seeing how emotional they get when they hear their name for the first time being announced before a game, and to see the passion and desire they have for the sport and for their country,” said Ellsworth. “It’s pretty rewarding seeing that now in the younger athletes.”

Ellsworth will also play for Hill United Chiefs in 2015.

wbureau@journalpioneer.com