Nothing like tournament fastball to bring out the best in a ball player.
The Superior Fencing Reds of the Spruce City Major Men's Fastball Association (SCMMFA) were reminded of that fact both times they left the comfort of their home diamond in Prince George to try their luck at tournaments.
The Reds came back from Callahoo, Alta., and West Kelowna with fourth-place finishes to show for their efforts and each trip left them hungry for more. Knowing the friendly confines of Spruce City Stadium will be the site of back-to-back tournaments later this month, the Reds will return to the road one more time this weekend, destined for the Canim Lake tournament near 100 Mile House.
"We're trying to get more involved in tournaments, that's where you draw out the good players," said Reds manager Sheldon Bjorklund. "With us going to some tournaments we pulled out two good athletes who hadn't played in three or four years -- Dustin Erickson and Greg Whyte are both back playing and it's good to get them back in the league.
"With us traveling, what that's done is Vanderhoof and Nautley [teams] are both going to Canim Lake this weekend as well. Tournament ball is the best ball and one of their players went with us to Callahoo and one went to Westbank and they both enjoyed themselves so much and went back to their teams and said, 'We've got to play somewhere else.'"
The Reds are part of the four-team SCMMFA, which also includes Custom Edge Sports, Vanderhoof Angels and Falcon Contracting Juniors. Each team has about 15 players, which makes for a crowded dugout if everybody shows up for the same game. But with so many shift workers and players whose work takes them out of the city, large rosters are a necessity for all the teams.
The men's league has suffered declining membership over the past couple decades, a product of depleted ranks in the Spruce City Minor Fastball Association, but Bjorklund remains optimistic about the league's future.
"The only thing that's going to be a problem down the road is pitching, there's lots of good athletes coming up," said Bjorklund. "The younger kids that are coming up are making the adjustment and they're not doing bad."
The Reds are leaning heavily on the pitching arms of Norm Linton and Kyle Garnot. They've also got Nolan Teegee and Chris French to supply power at the plate and some pitching help. Custom Edge will turn to Brendon Creyke, Adam Donnelly and Keith Henry to weave magic from the pitching rubber, while the Angels have Don Ketlo and Kalen Bird throwing for them.
For the Potskin-Ghostkeeper Memorial tournament June 20-22 at Spruce City Stadium, the Reds won't have the services of veterans Creyke, Randy Potskin, Chad Ghostkeeper and Evan Potskin, who regularly volunteer for traveling-team duty. Those four also play for Randy's A's, an Invermere-based team which will be coming to Prince George for the memorial tournament.
The Reds will host their own tournament June 27-29 at Spruce City Stadium, with 10 men's teams and five junior squads expected.
Falcon Contracting, a new team in the Spruce City league this year, has eight players aged 16-19 who will be part of Team B.C. in the North American Indigenous Games, July 20-27 in Regina. That list includes Trent Seymour, Lane Desjarlais, Theo Potskin, Jayden Heer, Shelby Tom, Tyson Ghostkeeper, Tre Potskin and Nicholas Potskin, all of whom are from the Prince George-Fort St. James area. Randy Potskin and Chad Ghostkeeper are coaching the team, which includes pickup players from the Lower Mainland and two from the Okanagan.
Seymour is the junior ace of the pitching staff and Tom can also find the plate. The Falcon coaches, Potskin and Ghostkeeper, and French will also toss a few innings to get them through the 30-game league schedule, which ends in late July. Evan Potskin, who once had a baseball tryout with Atlanta Braves, also brings a veteran presence to the junior squad.
Chad Ghostkeeper says about 80 per cent of the players in the league are of aboriginal descent and they're gearing up to play in the Canadian native fastball championship, Aug. 1-3 in Prince Albert, Sask.
"It's tough to get interest in the league after that, so that's why we shut it down in July," said Ghostkeeper. "You gotta enjoy the lake."
Baseball-fastball series planned
The Reds are trying to arrange a combined fastball/baseball exhibition series against the Queensway Auto World Red Sox, the defending champions of the Prince George Senior Baseball League. The Red Sox would be allowed to select a group of players from the other four teams in that league, while the Reds' roster would also include players from the other three men's fastball teams.
The fastball game would be played at Spruce City Stadium, and the baseball game would be at Citizen Field. Bjorklund said the series will likely be played sometime in July.
