[Alsfastball] Fw: Mystery Bluenose softballer on fire at Nationals

[aldoran]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Owen Marr" <awesome_o at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:22:02 
To:AlDoran at pmihrm.com
Subject: Mystery Bluenose softballer on fire at Nationals


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Wednesday, August 31, 2005  The Halifax Herald Limited

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Mystery Bluenose softballers on fire at nationals

By MONTY MOSHER / Sports Reporter

Who the heck are the Mulgrave Eagles?

"That's what everybody is asking up here," Eagles head coach Dave Houghton 
said Tuesday afternoon.

The Eagles have been the early story at the Canadian senior men's fast-pitch 
championship in St. Thomas, Ont. They never played a game as a unit before a 
pre-tournanent exhibition game on Friday.

On Tuesday morning, the team moved to 4-0 in the 13-team draw by downing 
Prince George, B.C., and former national team pitcher Mike Piechnik 9-2 in 
five innings. The Eagles are the No. 11 seed.

"We're not supposed to be 4-0," said Houghton, a long-time head coach of the 
Halifax-Windsor Keith's program. "I could have got 50-to-one odds on that at 
the start of the week. We're not supposed to be beating these teams, no way 
in the world. "

The hot streak ended with a 5-1 loss to Newfoundland in the late draw, but 
the Nova Scotians are still sailing toward the playoff round.

The Nova Scotia all-star team has no connection to Mulgrave, or Eagles. Many 
of the team members have had to be told where Mulgrave is on the map.

Houghton said the team has an anonymous sponsor who wanted the name as a 
memorial tribute to a family member.

The core roster is made up of former Keith's players, familiar names like 
Tim Macumber, Brian Urquhart and Ricky Leblanc.

The Keith's program stood at the top of Maritime fast-pitch for much of a 
decade, but were never able to win national gold. They disbanded after the 
2004 tournament in St. Croix, Hants Co.

Mike Grant and Robbie Doiron are ex-junior players out of Antigonish. Joel 
Isenor is a former junior from Hants County. Chris Hopewell played for years 
for the Brookfield Elks.

Joe Kelly and Darrell Walsh are pick-ups out of Newfoundland. Pitcher Grant 
Patterson, from Toronto, failed to land any attention from any of the big 
Ontario teams and joined the Eagles.

Former national team player Harvey Stevenson, one of the few big names on 
the roster, never showed up in St. Thomas.

"Everybody here has made a contribution," said Houghton. "The difference 
this year is no one is waiting for somebody to be parachuted in."

Macumber and Urquhart have always been capable pitchers, but seldom got the 
ball in big games for Keith's when Jody Hennigar, Gerald Muizelaar or a big 
import were around.

Urquhart pitched a five-hit shutout on Monday as Mulgrave beat host St. 
Thomas, the pre-tournament favourite, 1-0. He also pitched the last three 
innings of Tuesday's victory to get the win and has yet to allow a run.

"They have 10 guys from the national team," Houghton said of St. Thomas. 
"We've got five guys from the provincial team."

Macumber throttled Vancouver on Sunday and hit a home run to help his own 
cause in a 3-1 win.

"There's always been somebody ahead of guys like Tim and Brian," said 
Houghton. "But they've really stepped it up."

Leblanc had a double and two singles, Macumber a triple and single and 
Hopewell a double and single as part of a 12-hit attack against Prince 
George.

In the late game, Ward Gosse checked Mulgrave on five hits and John Farrell 
homered twice off Macumber. Jim Midgley had an RBI single for the Eagles.

The top eight teams advance to the playoff round beginning Friday. The best 
four from the round-robin will have double life in the playoff bracket.



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Copyright © 2005 The Halifax Herald Limited