Another in a continuing series from Pat Healey, Marketing Consultant, ISF 2005 Jr. Men’s World Softball Championships (June 24-July 3, 2005)
Sill, Thomas among four N.S. softball players trying out
BROOKFIELD, N.S. – A pair of Nova Scotian star softball players with the East Hants High Tide hope to make good on an ‘opportunity of a lifetime’. Bobby Sill of Birch Hill, near Brookfield and Steve Thomas of Hardwoodlands, near Milford are heading to the Canadian Jr. Men’s Softball team tryout camp with the intent of making the team and playing before family and friends at the ISF 2005 Jr. Men’s World Softball Championships June 24 to July 3 in Summerside. Sill, who comes from Birch Hill, just outside Brookfield in central Nova Scotia, is among three Nova Scotians selected to the 30-man tryout roster for the Canadian Jr. Men’s team that will represent the country as hosts of the ISF 2005 Jr. Men’s World Softball Championship in Summerside, PEI from June 24 to July 3. He showed people what he can do at last year’s Canadian Midget Boy’s Nationals in Summerside, as he flashed both his glove and bat for the East Hants High Tide.
Donnelly Archibald of Aspen utility player Tyler Hawes of Popes Harbour, who played QMJHL hockey with the PEI Rocket and pitcher Steve Thomas of Hardwoodlands, near Milford, were the other Nova Scotians selected to the camp. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime…not too many guys get a chance like this,” Sill said in an interview Sunday night. “I’m honored to be one of the 30 invited to the tryout camp.” The tournament will likely be the first and only chance that Sill’s friends and family will get to see him play this year as he leaves next week for Western Canada after signing a deal with a team run by Tom Taylor in British Columbia. Team Canada will hold a selection camp June 10-15 at the University of Waterloo before heading for two full days of training in Halifax, N.S. June 16-18 and then arrive in Summerside June 20. “All I could do was smile,” Sill, 19, said recalling his reaction when he was informed he had made the selection roster. Sill, a goalie with the Brookfield Elks of the Nova Scotia Jr. B Hockey League has had a tight schedule training wise with hockey in the picture. “Hockey has helped to keep me in shape.” His routine includes going to the gym, three days a week and running, and he has recently started in the gym with the Nova Scotia Canada Games softball team. After Sill’s hockey season ended with the Elks, the Maritime Jr. A Hockey League’s Truro Bearcats called him up, and he helped backstop the Bearcats to the league championship as backup goalie. Because of his commitment to ball, Sill is unable to play with Truro at the Fred Page Cup Eastern Canadian Hockey Championships hosted by the Yarmouth Mariners this week. Sill, a Grade 12 student at South Colchester Academy, suited up with the Brookfield Elks of the Coca Cola Major Fastball League in 2004, which featured teams from Halifax Keith’s, Antigonish Jr’s, Kinkora (PEI) Hitmen and Brookfield. “I’m hoping to do well at camp, hit the ball well and play solid defense,” the outfielder-third basemen added. “I don’t want to disappoint them.” An added bonus for Sill is this year’s ISF tournament location – in Summerside, P.E.I. “That’s great,” Sill added when asked about the location of the event. “It makes it easier for my family and friends to come over and watch me play. That’s why I want to make the team, not to mention to play before a
hometown pro-Canadian crowd.”
THOMAS ‘SURPRISED’ TO MAKE TEAM
Steve Thomas was surprised at his selection, but at the same time ‘thrilled and excited.’ “I didn’t think with the amount of good pitchers in Canada that I’d ever get an invite,†he said. The 19 year-old pitcher will be going into an electrical course at NSCC in the fall, and will not be doing what many of his former teammates are. Sill and fellow Canadian tryout players Mark Lewis and Jonathan Kane, both from Newfoundland and Labrador, are going west to play ball, but Thomas is staying home. He will be suiting up for the Nova Scotia Canada Games squad, which is a combination of the High Tide and Musqudobit Harbour Mariners. Thomas believes last year’s Canadian Midget Boys Fast Pitch Nationals helped in his selection to the tryout camp.
“If you have one good tournament that definitely helps,†Thomas said. “If you perform when everyone (scouts) is around, then you’ll get noticed.†“That’s what it all comes down to – playing and performing in the big games.†Thoams who works on a dairy farm has been doing cardio workouts, training in the gym, pitching and practicing with the Nova Scotia Canada Games team in preparation for the June 10-15 camp at the University of Waterloo. “It’s nice that the games are in Summerside, but it would have also been nice to go to another country,†said Thomas.