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Potskin cracks Team Canada |
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Written by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 20 May 2008 |
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UNITED STATES
On Tuesday, Softball Canada officially named Jessin Potskin to the 17-man roster of the junior national team. Potskin's cousin, Evan, used his mighty bat for the senior version of Team Canada back in 2003. That year in the Dominican Republic, Canada won gold at the Pan American Games by defeating the United States 4-2 in the championship final.
This year's junior national club will also get a taste of international competition. From June 20-29 in Whitehorse, Potskin and his new teammates will run the basepaths at the International Softball Federation world championship.
Potskin, one of two B.C.-based players who made the team, is understandably excited about suiting up in the tournament.
"I can't wait until we play our first game," said the 19-year-old. "I don't know what to expect, really."
Team Canada will open worlds against the Czech Republic and also has round-robin games scheduled against Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Botswana, Venezuela, Australia, Mexico, Denmark, Japan and the U.S. The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Darcy Walushka of Victoria is the other B.C. player who will wear a Team Canada jersey during the world tournament.
Potskin was selected to Team Canada based on his performance at a five-day evaluation camp, which ended last Thursday night in Tampa Bay, Fla. A total of 26 players were split into two teams for intra-squad games and testing. Potskin was evaluated at centre field and at shortstop.
"We would radar-gun his throw, plus measure him for accuracy," said Team Canada assistant coach Jim Jones. "We also went glove to glove with a stopwatch just so that we had a base of protocol on evaluation. And of course Jessin's an extremely good ball player so he did very well in all of them."
Potskin has been slotted in as a centrefielder. But, if necessary, he could easily handle the duties at shortstop.
"If someone in our shortstop position goes down, he could play there in a heartbeat," Jones said.
Right now, the club's starting shortstop looks to be Terrell Walker of Saskatchewan. Potskin would prefer to play shortstop but nobody will catch him complaining if he doesn't.
"You don't get many chances to play for Team Canada, so I'll take what I can get," he said with a grin.
Potskin considered his camp "not the greatest" because his batting stroke wasn't quite as lethal as normal. But, the Team Canada brass is well-aware of his capabilities at the plate.
"You're probably going to see him in the three-, four- or five-slot (in the batting order) simply because he hits extra-base hits," Jones said. "Hopefully we've got guys on base setting the table for him when he comes up. He hits the rise ball very well. Speed doesn't seem to bother him -- he gets his cuts every time at bat."
Potskin found out he had made the team while he was en route back to Prince George.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," he said.
"When I got the phone call, I was pretty excited."
Potskin started out as a baseball player at age six or seven but said he switched to fastball because he enjoyed it more. On local diamonds this spring and summer, he'll be playing both sports -- baseball with the BID Construction Grays of the Prince George Senior Baseball League and fastball with the Black Sox of the Treasure Cove Casino Men's Fastball League.
Potskin will head to Vancouver on June 10 for a seven-day training camp in advance of the world championship tournament.
See page 12 for the full Team Canada roster.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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