Sean Cleary is the ace up Canada’s sleeve

By Robin Short, The Telegram

Without fanfare, Harbour Main softball pitching star has emerged as the finest athlete on local sporting stage (or at least one not named Gushue, Nichols or Osmond).

His name is Cleary, but he’s not that Cleary, the Stanley Cup winner a few years back.

He’s Sean Cleary, ace of the national men’s softball team’s pitching staff, and among the tops at his craft on the planet.

He may the finest athlete on the local stage today. Definitely the best local athlete with the lowest profile.

Perhaps that’s by choice. This Cleary guy isn’t rah-rah. You get the feeling Cleary — like another well-known introverted Newfoundland athlete, Michael Ryder — would prefer a hangover than talking about himself to a meddling sports reporter.

It’s safe to say Sean Cleary let’s his game do the talking.

Men’s softball is not an Olympic sport. Never will be, which is too bad for Newfoundland, among the last outposts where the game really, truly matters.

The athletes are not carded under Sport Canada, nor are they recipients of Own the Podium funding. Click here to continue reading and to view photo at The Telegram.

Editor’s Note: Sean Cleary will be front and center for Team Canada, who seeks to defend their 2015 gold medal, at the 2017 WBSC Men’s World Championship, July 7-16, 2017 at Whitehorse, Yukon.

Otherwise, perhaps we’d be speaking of Cleary in the same breath as quasi-professionals Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols and Kaetlyn Osmond (even though she hasn’t lived in Newfoundland for years and years and years, but that’s an opinion for another day).

Consider this:

Just in the past two years, Cleary’s won an International Softball Congress club team championship (he was top pitcher and first-team all-star last year, leading the Toronto Gators to the title), a world championship with Canada (5-0 in round-robin; 2-0 in playoffs) and a Pan American Games gold medal (4-0, 0.97 ERA).