{"id":21973,"date":"2013-08-20T11:14:35","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T18:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21973"},"modified":"2013-08-20T11:14:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T18:14:35","slug":"jamie-shields-of-appin-scores-the-winning-run-in-extra-innings-as-the-hill-united-chiefs-capture-world-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21973","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Shields of Appin scores the winning run in extra innings as the Hill United Chiefs capture world crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click on logo for original news story and photo at the London Free Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>When the Alvinston Indians missed qualifying for the International Softball Congress world tournament, Jamie Shields held out a glimmer of hope he would still be on his way to Moline, Ill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew there might be a team that would be looking for a catcher and I could slide in with them,\u201d the 26-year-old registered respiratory therapist from Appin said. \u201cI thought, if anything, it would be a team ranked in the 20-30 range.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea it would be the best team in the world that would pick me up. I just stumbled into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Six Nations Hill United Chiefs lost last year\u2019s final in extra innings. They didn\u2019t require much help, but they needed a replacement for their backup catcher, who was tied to a brand new job.<\/p>\n

Shields was there for insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 100% OK with me,\u201d he said. \u201cI went there for the experience and I got one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 10th inning of one of the most riveting, memorable and scoreless fastpitch finals, Shields was sent in by manager and Mitchell native Doug Eidt to pinch-run at second base against the New York Gremlins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had one kid on our team who was pretty fast but he had a (family) wedding to go to and had to go home and miss the championship game (Saturday night),\u201d he said. \u201cI knew I might be a little faster than the guy who got the double (Cal Miller) and before they even asked me, I had my helmet on and was standing right at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he moved up to third on a bounceout to second, Alvinston manager Paul (Chico) McCart couldn\u2019t do much more than shake his head.<\/p>\n

He was the one who granted permission for the Chiefs to pick up his catcher. He has also doubled for years as a Gremlins\u2019 coach.<\/p>\n

A couple of days later, he still doesn\u2019t believe unlikely hero Shields beat the bang-bang play at the plate on Jeff Ellsworth\u2019s Worlds-winning sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cShieldsy will tell you he was safe,\u201d the colourful McCart said, \u201cbut he was out. There\u2019s no doubt about it. We saw the video. I\u2019m happy for him, but it\u2019s a tough way to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was unbelievably close, the runner admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it (the fly ball) was a little bit deeper than it was,\u201d Shields said. \u201cI knew I had to go hard but I never knew it was going to be that tight. When the ball got there, I got lucky. He (the Gremlins\u2019 catcher) caught it on the wrong side of his body and left me a little corner of the plate to hit before he got me.\u201d<\/p>\n

While New York argued the call, Shields and the Chiefs launched a glorious celebration. He grew up hearing stories of what it was like to be in such a big spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan Wolfe (world champion fastpitch centre-fielder from Melbourne) was my gym teacher in high school (at Glencoe),\u201d Shields said. \u201cHe\u2019s probably my biggest influence fastball-wise. It starts right there. When we were in the under-19 division, we would run over to watch Wolfie and he would be facing a pitcher like Darren Zack. You\u2019re pretty much hooked after seeing stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shields had a front-row seat for Chiefs ace pitcher Adam Folkard\u2019s breathtaking week. The Aussie reeled off an ISC record 18? innings of no-hit ball and pitched all 10 innings in the final.<\/p>\n

He barely gave up a baserunner, let alone a run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just witnessed the best pitching performance ever at a tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s just untouchable and I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. In the final, we were just trying to pick him up. He sat down after every inning. I\u2019m not sure how many more he could\u2019ve gone \u2014 he was toast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shields expects to be back to defend his piece of the title next year, even if it\u2019s not with Hill United.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what Hill\u2019s plan are for me but I know we have a real good, young core in Alvinston,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love to see them develop. For two or three years, I was the youngest on the team. Now, I\u2019m one of the vets.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a week, he will reunite with McCart for the Softball Canada senior men\u2019s national fastpitch championships. Both will represent the Prince Edward Island team in Stratford Aug. 27-Sept. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Alvinston Indians missed qualifying for the International Softball Congress world tournament, Jamie Shields held out a glimmer of hope he would still be on his way to Moline, Ill. \u201cI knew there might be a team that would be looking for a catcher and I could slide in with them,\u201d the 26-year-old registered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isc","8":"category-tournaments","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21975,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21973\/revisions\/21975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}