From the Prince George Citizen
Friday, August 25, 2006

Saskatoon Black Sox arrive armed and dangerous

by TED CLARKE, Citizen staff

Saskatchewan has some of the richest blacktop soil in the country.

It grows wheat as tall as beanstalks, potatoes big as footballs, and enough championship-calibre ball players to fill any fastball field of dreams.

The Saskatoon Aspen Interior Black Sox have taken full advantage, and have stocked their roster for next week’s Canadian Senior Men’s Fastpitch Championship at Spruce City Stadium with an impressive lineup of flatland homebrews.

It was only two years ago the upstart Black Sox took the senior A nobility by storm, winning their first national men’s title in their very first attempt. That same year in Halifax, the Saskatoon Merchants finished third, putting an exclamation mark on Saskatchewan’s rise to prominence. Fuelled by an explosion of activity at the minor fastball level, the wheatfield province continues to buck a worldwide trend toward declining participation in the sport.

“Fastball is growing strong in Saskatoon, our numbers have never been this high, and Regina is booming too,” said Jason Kurylyk, the Black Sox manager/coach. “The minor programs are just swamped with teams, it’s crazy, actually.

“I just think our grassroots program is exposed to a higher level and a lot of our senior players work with them in the off-season. The women especially see they can get college scholarships. You don’t have to be a great player, you just have to be a player who’s willing to work. The women have the scholarships and the men have Team Canada, and that’s their dream to get on that team.

“Fastball is still in the media focus and growing large, even when it’s dying everywhere else. The biggest problem is finding the sponsors for our travel.”

Saskatoon brothers Keith and Pat Mackintosh both made the national team roster for next month’s Pan-American championship in Mexico. Both will be in action in the eight-team tournament next week at Spruce City Stadium, but wearing different jerseys. Keith plays second base for the Black Sox while Pat is an infielder for the Vancouver Grey Sox.

The Black Sox like the fact they’ll have another shot at the St. Thomas (Ont.) Evergreen Centennials, the defending senior A champions.

“They took back what was ours last year,” said Kurylyk. “We had a lot of injuries last year and we ended up finished fifth. One of our main pitchers, Dean Holoein, couldn’t throw, and shortstop Darryl Joy had his Achilles tendon cut at the Team Canada camp, so we lost two big sticks there. All of the games we lost were by one or two runs.”

This time around, Holoein is nursing a groin injury, his souvenir from the ISC world tournament in Kitchener, Ont., but the Black Sox are otherwise healthy. If Holoein can’t play, Team Canada chuckers Trevor Ethier and Sean Whitten are both capable of winning a national tournament.

“They’re all top dogs with the Team Canada program and on any given day, any one of them can beat anybody,” Kurylyk said. “Dean’s been proven a little more, but Trevor is really up-and-coming and he’s been a workhorse. They were the two top pitchers in ‘04 when Trevor was pitching for the Merchants.”

Saskatoon finished fourth at the ISC world tournament the past two seasons and Kurylyk has high hopes the Black Sox will be playing for all the marbles in the national tournament final, Sept. 3. They’ll be bolstered by a pair of Newfoundlanders, long-ball hitter Jason Hill and shortstop Geoff Evely, a wizard on defence.

“We’re pretty thick, one through nine this year,” Kurylyk said. “We’ve got Bill Simmons coming in from Ontario. He’s with the Team Canada program too, and he’s a great lead-off hitter. Brad Twordick hits between .350 and .400 every tournament. We’re a lot more balanced this year.”

The Black Sox are well familiar with the host Prince George Black Bears, having lost a close one to them in June at the Ducks Unlimited tournament in Melfort, Sask.

“We had a two-hitter and they won on a two-run home run by Randy Potskin,” said Kurylyk. “We won’t be taking them lightly, that’s for sure. They have great hitters and they’ve always battled us hard.”

This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.