Walkom part of Stratford midget squad
By Andy Bader
Despite being in his first year of midget ball, Mitchell’s Zane Walkom represented himself quite well at the 2011 U19 Men’s Canadian Fast Pitch championship Aug. 7-14 in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Playing with the Stratford Memorials, Walkom proved his versatility in helping the Stratford squad to their second straight silver medal at the national championships.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said simply last week.
Walkom, 17, the son of Bob and Barb Walkom, played third base, catcher and outfield, as well as time as a designated player (batter only) during the week-long tournament, helping Stratford to a 5-2 record after round-robin pool play.
The club won four straight playoff games, three on the Saturday alone when all things were clicking, and a wild 8-6 win in the semi-finals Sunday morning against Calahoo, Alberta which propelled them to the gold medal game against their Ontario rivals from Wiarton.
Without ace Michael Legace-Roote on the mound, Stratford got off to a slow start – a change of fortune for a club that themselves got off to a fast start when it counted, putting pressure on the opposition – and the Memorials couldn’t recover in an 8-2 loss in the gold medal game.
But silver is nothing to sneeze at. Click here for the complete story.