{"id":1917,"date":"2007-07-27T07:29:22","date_gmt":"2007-07-27T15:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1917"},"modified":"2007-07-27T08:55:55","modified_gmt":"2007-07-27T16:55:55","slug":"former-chisox-prospect-now-catcher-in-saskatoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1917","title":{"rendered":"Former Chisox prospect now catcher in Saskatoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Star Phoenix:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Softball fits baseball player like a glove<\/strong>
\nFormer Chisox prospect now catcher in Saskatoon
\nDarren Zary, The StarPhoenix
\nPublished: Friday, July 27, 2007<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not like Craig Horswell wasn’t good at baseball.<\/p>\n

He was a member of Canada’s national team. With a rifle for an arm, he was identified by the Chicago White Sox as a Major League prospect. Yet, Horswell made the switch to the other side, giving up baseball for softball in 1999.<\/p>\n

“Baseball was dead in Prince George,” says Horswell, a native of B.C.<\/p>\n

“I was contemplating an offer from the Seattle Mariners when I decided to stay with the national team. After the disappointment of that season, I decided I had had enough of baseball and finished my schooling at UBC (University of British Columbia).<\/p>\n

“I really like fast pitch and I enjoy catching. Defence is definitely my strong suit.”<\/p>\n

“There’s no better defensive catcher on the planet,” says Saskatoon’s Keith Mackintosh, a member of Canada’s national team. “He’s got an unreal arm. And he has the intangibles, too. He’s played in pressure situations. He calls a great game.<\/p>\n

“Anybody I know who has played with him and thrown to him just loves throwing to him. He’s so smooth.”<\/p>\n

While Horswell’s baseball days are behind him, he has fond memories.<\/p>\n

“I went to a world championship and Olympic qualifier. I have played with and against many Major League players and was able to get through school because of the help of baseball.”<\/p>\n

Now softball is on his mind. Horswell is a member of the Saskatoon Aspen Interiors — formerly the Aspen Black Sox. They play the Saskatoon Diamondbacks in a best-of-five provincial senior A men’s final today and Saturday at Gordie Howe Park. Both teams advance to nationals Aug. 26 to Sept. 2 in St. John’s, N.F.<\/p>\n

“I can compare this squad to the Calgary team I played for that came third in the ISC world tournament,” says Horswell, a school teacher by profession. “If our throwers stay healthy and we put things together at the right time, we will go far in both the ISCs and nationals.”<\/p>\n

The Aspen Interiors are the two-time defending provincial champs.<\/p>\n

“This won’t be a friendly series as we are looking for some payback from early June when the Diamondbacks defeated us 2-1 to knock us out of the Ducks (Unlimited) tourney (at Melfort),” says Aspen Interiors manager Jason Kurylyk. “It was a good game. The (potential) tying run was thrown out at home plate to end the game. The loss is still in the back of our heads and we are hungry.<\/p>\n

“We won’t be giving our provincial title up without one hell of a fight.”<\/p>\n

EXTRA INNINGS: Aspens pitcher Trevor Ethier had his collar-bone broken last month by a line drive. “But the warrior Trevor is, (he) was back in the circle throwing 17 days after it happened,” said Kurylyk . . . Aspen OF\/catcher Brad Bibby is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Star Phoenix: Softball fits baseball player like a glove Former Chisox prospect now catcher in Saskatoon Darren Zary, The StarPhoenix Published: Friday, July 27, 2007 It’s not like Craig Horswell wasn’t good at baseball. He was a member of Canada’s national team. With a rifle for an arm, he was identified by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917"}],"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=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}