By JACOB ROBINSON, SIMCOE REFORMER
(click banner for original news story)
Meet the new Travellers
The area’s top fastball team is hoping changes to this year’s organization will bring with it a world title.
The team formerly known as the Jarvis Gamblers has encountered some swift and immediate alterations to the organization this off-season. The first is a name change. With three primary owners — the team; 2009 sponsor Dave Anderson of Murphy’s Fish and Chips in Truro, NS; and a silent partner located in Broken Bow, Oklahoma — the group settled on the Travellers as their new moniker.
And with some new investors comes a host of new players, including three that will join the team as they merge with the now defunct Broken Bow Spirit, a former perennial top ISC team.
“We feel this is a great opportunity for our local guys and for the community,” said Travellers GM Clarke Staats. “With U.S. Steel back, there’s a positive vibe around the team and the town and this will give people the chance to come out to the ballpark and see some world class players in a country setting.”
Despite the changes the team will still remain very local, with over half the roster hailing from the Haldimand and Norfolk area. The local contingent includes brother combo Andrew and Allan Phibbs, cousins Ian and Will Fehrman, Pat Graham, Greg Cournyea and Chad Staats.
Headlining the newcomers is Aussie Adam Folklard, who Staats hailed as “arguably the best pitcher in the world right now.”
Folkard — the ace on Australia’s 2009 International Softball Federation World Championship club — will be joined by New Zealand national team third baseman Brad Rona, pitcher Trevor Ethier of Saskatoon and Denmark outfielder Freddy Terkelson.
“It’s a good mix, probably the best blend of veterans and young players,” said Staats. “The core group that we’ve developed is just hitting their fastball peak now. When you get to 28 or 29 to about 33, that’s the time when you get your best out of players. I truly believe this is a contender for the ISC Championship.”
The team will begin play May 22 in Owen Sound as part of the ISC Travel League. The team’s first tournament of the year will go in Niagara Falls on June 4. Jarvis will play host to the ISC Travel League Tournament July 24-25.
Being merged with Broken Bow, the club will play under that name for the American Softball Association Championships in South Bend Indiana the weekend of Aug. 5.
The “Big One,” also known as the ISC World Tournament, goes Aug. 14 in Midland Michigan, which is when the team hopes to be firing on all cylinders.
Editor’s note: Jarvis is located in the Ontario province, near the USA border, about an hour and a half from both Toronto and their cross-province rival Kitchener Rivershark Twins. With Kitchener coming off of back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009, and Jarvis’s signing of Australian pitcher Adam Folkard and New Zealander Brad Rona, many expect the two Canadian teams to be 1-2 in the ISC pre-season rankings due out later this month. In the 2008 ISC World Tournament at Kimberly, Wisconsin, two Canadian teams squared off in the title game, Kitchener and Aspen Interiors, the first time two Canadian teams competed in the final. Will 2010 see a repeat?