{"id":1190,"date":"2006-08-26T07:30:35","date_gmt":"2006-08-26T15:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1190"},"modified":"2006-08-29T07:37:06","modified_gmt":"2006-08-29T15:37:06","slug":"sr-canadians-hosts-have-winning-on-their-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1190","title":{"rendered":"Sr. Canadians – Aug 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince George Citizen<\/a>
\nSaturday, August 26, 2006
\n
\nHosts have winning on their minds<\/strong><\/p>\n

by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff<\/p>\n

\nThey have the pitching.<\/p>\n

The question the Prince George Black Bears will have to answer during the Canadian senior men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch championship is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d can they hit?<\/p>\n

If they can, they expect to be in contention for the national title.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we hit the ball, I think we have a chance of winning it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said shortstop Evan Potskin, who owns one of the most potent swings in the Black Bears\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 batting order. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to hit, plain and simple.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The eight-team, eight-day tournament starts Sunday at Spruce City Stadium. Other clubs vying for the title include the defending champion St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials and the 2004 champions from Saskatoon, the Aspen Interior Black Sox. The powerful Vancouver Grey Sox also have their eyes on the crown, as do the Jarvis Merchants, Charlottetown Razzy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Roadhouse Fawcetts, Newfoundland Impact Signs and Stony Plain Twiliters.<\/p>\n

The Prince George pitching staff starts with Korrey Gareau, a Team Canada member who is among the best throwers in the world. The intimidating Collin McKenzie will also toe the rubber for the Black Bears. At the American Softball Association world championship tournament earlier this month in South Bend, Ind., McKenzie was named top pitcher after his Circle Tap team defeated Jacksonville, Fla., 4-1 in the championship game. McKenzie ended the tournament with a 4-0 record.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitching well right now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Bears infielder Randy Potskin. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitching the best right now, actually. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s healthy and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s throwing the ball hard.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The third pitcher in the Black Bears\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rotation is Ryan Brand. The Calgary-based Brand also won a top pitcher award this season after helping California\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SoCal Bombers to a tournament title in St. George, Utah.<\/p>\n

On offence, Evan Potskin is one of the hitters who will need to be hot for the Bears to sink their teeth into success at nationals. Others who will be counted on for production at the plate are Randy Potskin, Chad Ghostkeeper, Glenn Ormsby and Darrell Sandback.<\/p>\n

Ormsby is a power guy, and Sandback has earned a reputation as a deadly hitter in all situations.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the best hitters in the world,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Evan Potskin, who used his own bat to help Team Canada win a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a power hitter, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real good contact hitter and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t strike out very often. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tough out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Several members of the Black Bears are coming off appearances at the 32-team International Softball Congress (ISC) world championship tournament, which concluded last weekend in Kitchener, Ont. Evan Potskin, Randy Potskin and Norm Linton played for Portland CR Adidas, Gareau was named a second-team all-star for his work with The Farm Tavern, McKenzie was on the rubber for Circle Tap, and Brand and Ghostkeeper suited up for SoCal. Black Bears manager Nino Fabbro anticipates positive ISC ripple effects on his team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hitters.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve faced some excellent pitching, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely going to help here (at nationals),\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Even seeing the pitching, it should really help.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Fabbro, in particular, is looking for big things from Evan Potskin, whose home-run power is well-known in national fastball circles.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hope Evan comes ready to play,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fabbro said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to play, he can be the difference in the whole tournament. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hell of a hitter. If he has a good tournament, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be in the top four for sure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The Black Bears made their first-ever appearance at nationals last summer in St. Thomas, Ont. In a 13-team field, they finished in seventh place. This year, the Bears would love to follow the example of last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s St. Thomas team by winning the tournament on home turf.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking forward to playing in front of big crowds \u00e2\u20ac\u201d hopefully everyone comes out,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said outfielder Brian Bailey.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone (in the draw) is solid, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be right there, I think. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see why we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be. No one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to fool us, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen pretty much (all the pitchers). A couple guys we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, but for the most part we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen everyone that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The first game for the Black Bears is Sunday at 2 p.m. against Charlottetown. At 7 p.m. Sunday, right after the official opening ceremonies, the Bears will face Saskatoon. Round robin games will run through Thursday.<\/p>\n

All eight teams will advance to the playoff round. For the top four teams, playoffs will follow a double-knockout format. The bottom four teams will be eliminated with a single loss. Playoffs are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 1. The championship final is planned for Sun., Sept. 3 at 1:30 p.m.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prince George Citizen Saturday, August 26, 2006 Hosts have winning on their minds by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff They have the pitching. The question the Prince George Black Bears will have to answer during the Canadian senior men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch championship is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d can they hit? If they can, they expect to be in contention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}