BY PAT HEALEY
ALBERTON – Jeff Ellsworth works in the Heart of West Prince and he will bring that heart and dedication to Team Canada, when he suits up for them starting Sunday. And he will get to celebrate being selected to the Canadian fast pitch team with friends and family from across P.E.I. and West Prince as a celebration ceremony in his honor is held Thursday night at the Alberton Fire Hall starting at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend. Ellsworth leaves two days later for a five day training camp with the Canadian squad in Las Vegas, NV, beginning Sept. 24, before they depart for Hermosilo, Mexico and the 2006 Pan American Softball championships.
The Alberton Rec director has had to go through two strenous training camps with the Team Canada squad as part of their training team in Kitchener, Ontario, headed up by coach Mark Smith of Windsor, N.S. Ellsworth has burst onto the scene thanks to three impressive years at the ISC International Softball Congress Worlds and a handful of years playing with various teams from the Halifax Keith’s to the Charlottetow Fawcetts at the Senior Canadian fast pitch championships. In the last two ISC Worlds as member of the Fargo Kegel Black Knights, in Eau Claire, Wisc. in 2005 and this past summer in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., Ellsworth hit 10-25 with eight RBI’s and four runs scored with his club this year, while batting 14-28 two seasons ago. That hitting earned him his second All World Second team All Star Outfielder award, with the other coming in 2002 as a member of the Manitoba West-Man ALliance, based out of Winnipeg, MB. At the senior Canadians, Ellsworth played with the Kinkora Hitmen in 2005 in St. Thomas, Ont., when he hit 13-24 earning him an All Canadian outfielder award while this year he lit up the bases going 14-25 with the Charlottetown Fawcetts to capture the All Canadian outfielder and Top Batter awards at the tournament in Prince George, B.C. In 2004, Ellsworth was just two hits shy of winning top batter, but came away with another All Canadian outfielder award at the tournament in St. Croix, N.S. Ellsworth along with Colchester County resident Tim Macumber, a representative for Labatt Breweries in Nova Scotia, are the only two from the region selected to the 20-man team. NOTE TO MEDIA: You are welcome to come and file a story as well for your respective MEDIA PRINT OR TV outlets as this is a huge accomplishment for someone from a small province like PEI and a small community like ALBERTON.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
TRACY ARSENAULT, organizer
882-2191
PAT HEALEY, media
856-1132 (leave a message)