Norm Linton has a few tricks up his sleeve he's waiting to show the Westbank Cardinals fastball team.
They promise to add an element of mystery to his pitches in this weekend's Canada Day fastball tournament. Whatever it takes it win.
Linton figures Westbank and the NB Hawks of Regina are the biggest obstacles standing in the way of his Superior Fencing Reds (Big Guy Lake) in the eight-team men's tournament, which starts today at 8 a.m. at Spruce City Stadium.
"I like our chances," said Linton, who will share the Reds' pitching duties with Kyle Garnot and Chris French. "I figure if we play a good game against one of those top two teams we should be able to get by."
Westbank has brought its ace pitcher, Brock Perry, and Regina will lean heavily on the arm of Dusty Keshene, who played in for Spank's A's of Invermere in the Potskin/Ghostkeeper Memorial tournament in Prince George last weekend.
The men's tournament features one other team from the Spruce City Men's League -- Custom Edge Sports/Juniors as well as Stoney Creek, Moricetown, Shuswap, and the Driftpile 86'ers of Alberta.
Big Guy Lake opens against Stoney Creek today at 8 a.m. Other opening-round matchups include Custom Edge/Juniors vs. Moricetown, 9:30 a.m.; Shuswap vs. Regina, 11 a.m.; and Driftpile vs. Westbank at 12:30 p.m. The first-round winners meet tonight at 6:30 and 8 p.m. The winners will advance to the A-final Sunday at 11 a.m.
The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m., following a 2 p.m. semifinal game.
The success of Custom Edge/Juniors hinges on the throwing arms of Keith Henry and CKPG connection Adam Donnelly. The combined squad also boasts a solid hitting lineup which includes Geoff Morgan, Joe Morgan, Tre Potskin, Theo Potskin, Nicholas Potskin and Jarrett Potskin.
Driftpile includes several players from the Vanderhoof Angels major men's team and the cousins of Reds players Jason Fulton and Bucko Fulton, and possibly Joey Potskin.
The four-team youth tournament includes the Under-16 Team B.C., Prince George, Stony Creek and Fort St. James (Team Marcel). The youth final is set for today at 5 p.m.
Prince George veterans Randy Potskin, Evan Potskin, Chad Ghostkeeper and Brendon Creyke are in Calgary playing for Randy's A's of Invermere in this weekend's International Softball Congress world championship qualifier.
