{"id":1192,"date":"2006-08-23T07:40:38","date_gmt":"2006-08-23T15:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2006-08-29T07:41:24","modified_gmt":"2006-08-29T15:41:24","slug":"sr-canadians-aug-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1192","title":{"rendered":"Sr. Canadians – Aug 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Prince George Citizen<\/a><\/strong>
\nStony Plain arrives for nationals disguised as Newfoundlanders<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\nHere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an alternative name for the Stony Plain Twiliters.<\/p>\n

The Newfoundland West Oilers.<\/p>\n

The Twiliters, who are entered in next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Canadian senior men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch championship in Prince George, have nine Newfoundland transplants on their roster.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of us came out (to Alberta) in the first (oil) boom in the late 70s and early 80s and some came in the 90s,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said 44-year-old Stony Plain player\/coach Kevin Lannon, himself a native of The Rock.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are three or four of us that bring the team age up a little bit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The other Newfoundland products who wear Twiliters uniforms are manager Mike Hynes, pitcher Daryl Tilley, catcher Cyril Walsh, second baseman Dan Corbett, third baseman James Dunphy, outfielders Barry Sullivan and Ron Joy and utility man Mike Tilley. This national tournament will be the first for the Twiliters. And they have good reason for wanting to get a taste of the action.<\/p>\n

Next year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nationals will be held on familiar ground, and they plan to be there.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Basically, when we put this team together, we said it was a two-year project because the nationals are in St. John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Newfoundland, next year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lannon said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This year, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting our feet wet, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get drenched. But we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll know what we have to do for next year in St. John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tournament starts Sunday at Spruce City Stadium. With a smaller-than-normal eight-team field, competition is expected to be intense. Lannon, fully aware there will be no easy games, calls Stony Plain \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a sleeper\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only eight teams this year, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really going to have our eyes widened,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We could surprise some people.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The Twiliters will face a stiff test right away at nationals. Sunday at noon, they open the tournament against the defending champion St. Thomas (Ont.) Evergreen Centennials. Late Sunday night, Stony Plain will be back on the diamond against the Jarvis Merchants from Ontario.<\/p>\n

As they look to pull off some upsets, the Twiliters will rely on the arms of Craig Pidcock and Daryl Tilley to keep opposing hitters quiet.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They will be the mainstays,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also got a guy out of Grande Prairie, (pitcher) Derick Judrey, who has been to many nationals. He is very experienced. He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been on the senior A circuit for three or four years but has been coming back. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be excited to toe the rubber, too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Defensively, the Twiliters are anchored by catcher Scott Smith, who has previous senior national experience with the Edmonton Merchants. At second base, Corbett is no stranger to national fastball tournaments either. Junior and senior combined, he has played in the national spotlight close to a dozen times and should be a calming influence for his fellow infielders. And Mike Tilley, who can play anywhere he is needed, has a world title on his fastball resume.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He played on the under-19 world youth team that won (the title) probably 10 years ago,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lannon said.<\/p>\n

In the outfield, Fred Serritt will be an important man for the Twiliters.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He has been to a few nationals,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So we have experience. We have a few 40-and-over (players) who will spot in and out. Me personally, this is my first one so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably just sit back and enjoy it and let the younger guys take the brunt of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

At the plate, Lannon considers the Stony Plain batting order to be solid from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One to nine, there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much difference,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a bit of speed up front with Sullivan and Clarence Gerbrandt, our shortstop. This is his first time at the senior A (nationals) and I think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll turn a lot of heads with his play. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll lead off, and if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hitting, his game is unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our power is going to come from Mike Tilley and Ronny Joy. James Dunphy can put it out at any time and Danny Corbett is one of our better hitters. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably be batting third. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have a full bench and everyone is going to get used.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Prince George Citizen Stony Plain arrives for nationals disguised as Newfoundlanders by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an alternative name for the Stony Plain Twiliters. The Newfoundland West Oilers. The Twiliters, who are entered in next week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Canadian senior men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch championship in Prince George, have nine Newfoundland transplants on their roster.<\/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\/1192"}],"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=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}