O’LEARY – Prince Edward Island has six teams – two boys and four girls – among the 11 teams entered in the Eastern Canadian under-12 softball championships, which got underway in O’Leary late Thursday afternoon.
The Island’s four girls’ teams got the tournament underway with games on Ellis and Jeff Ellsworth diamonds at 4:30 p.m. The rest of the tournament resumes on Friday at 8 a.m.
Following is a look at the entries:
Boys
O’Leary Jr. Eagles
The Eagles are a first-year team and play in the Alberton Under-12 Fastpitch League.
Team manager Kim Clements says the boys have jelled nicely as a team, and have shown much improvement from the start of the season, even learning skills from one another. They are coached by Scott Bernard, Carla Boswell and Jarred MacEachern, with Jamie Betts serving as their pitching/training coach.
While the team is hoping for good results, most of all they are looking forward to having fun and enjoying the experience of playing in such a big tournament.
Alberton A’s
The team plays in the West Prince Under-12 Boys League on Wednesday nights in Alberton.
The league, says co-coach Jason Milligan, is an effort to rebuild boys’ softball in the area, which, he acknowledges, has been “pretty quiet” the past five to 10 years. All the players on the team are new to the sport this year, and are eager to see how they perform against the other three boys’ teams in the tournament.
The A’s are coached by Milligan, Lisa Leard and Clint Perry. Mitchell Hardy provides instruction for the pitchers.
Girls
O’Leary Reds
The host O’Leary Reds are entering a young but enthusiastic team. The team plays out of O’Leary’s Jeff Ellsworth Field in the provincial under-12 loop. They go into the tournament with at least a dozen games in their glove.
Team members range in age from nine to 12, and only one of them is a second-year under-12 player.
“It’s been a learning year as far as getting out on the field and learning some positions,” acknowledged team manager Mary Hart. “They’re all very ambitious, and seem to have a love of the game.”
Hart is pleased that the players always have a smile on their faces. Their coaches are Lori Ellsworth, Terri Lynn Sweet and Jeff Ellsworth.
Tignish
Players from Tignish’s two girls teams have united to become P.E.I. Team Two for the Eastern Canadians.
Tignish plays its home games on Hogan’s Diamond in Tignish. Manager Melanie Buote said the girls have shown great interest and improvement during the year, and they are excited to play in a tournament so close to home Buote said the girls are looking forward to a fun weekend of softball and to meeting new people.
Brian McInnis is the team’s coach.
West Royalty
The West Royalty Force entry is made up of girls from all five West Royalty under-12 teams that normally play their home games out of fields in Charlottetown and surrounding communities.
In their only exhibition game since coming together for the Eastern Canadians, the Force lost to an under-14 team by just two runs, putting up a strong performance in the process.
Shaun Callaghan, Ian Perry and Jason McCallum are the team coaches and Karen Doyle is manager.
Summerside
A profile on the Summerside team was not obtained.
Friday’s Schedule
Friday’s schedule at Eastern
Canadian U12 softball ch’ships:
8 a.m. – Girls: Southern Black Bears (N.B. 1) vs. Nova Scotia, Ellis Field; Kennebecasis Valley Dynamite (N.B. 2) vs. Tignish (P.E.I. 2), Ellsworth Field.
10 a.m. – Girls: O’Leary (P.E.I. 1) vs. West Royalty (P.E.I. 4), Ellis Field; Summerside (P.E.I. 3) vs. Kennebecasis Valley Dynamite, Ellsworth Field.
Noon – Girls: West Royalty vs. Southern Black Bears, Ellis Field; Tignish vs. Nova Scotia, Ellsworth Field.
2 p.m. – Boys: O’Leary (P.E.I. 1) vs. East Hants Mastodons (N.S. 1), Ellis Field; Brookfield (N.S. 2) vs. Alberton (P.E.I. 2), Ellsworth Field.
4 p.m. – Girls: O’Leary vs. Southern Black Bears, Ellis Field; Summerside vs. Nova Scotia, Ellsworth Field.
6 p.m. – Boys: Alberton vs. East Hants Mastodons, Ellis Field.
6 p.m. – Girls: Kennebecasis Valley Dynamite vs. West Royalty, Ellsworth Field.
8 p.m. – Boys: O’Leary vs. Brookfield, Ellis Field.
