Doucette Homers in Canada’s Second Win
Team Canada won it second straight game to go to 2-0 at the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, B.C. They defeated the Bejing Tigers by a score of 6-2. The Dartmouth Moosehead Dry’s Darren Doucete blasted a long homerun and centrefielder Chris Head was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Team Canada will have its work cut out for itself as it faces the #1 seed from Cuba next. The Cubans are also 2-0.
You can catch all the action live online this evening at 11:00 ATL
Team Canada Adds Dartmouth Trio for World Baseball Challenge
The best amateur baseball teams in the world will head to Prince George, B.C. from July 7-18. They’ll be joined by three veteran members of the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry.
Last year’s N.S. Senior Baseball League MVP, Joel Irvine; home run and RBI leader, Darren Doucette; and 2008 league MVP, Chris Head have been asked to don the Team Canada jersey by coaches, Scott MacKenzie and David Laing. The two coaches have known the players for quite some time and helped lead their Burnaby Bulldogs to the Canadian Senior Baseball Championship held in Dartmouth last Aug. The Bulldogs defeated the Dry 1-0 for the gold medal in one of the finest baseball games ever witnessed in the province.
Competition will be tight as Canada will be up against Cuba National team, ranked #1 in the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) amateur world rankings; the #2 ranked United States; and #3, Japan. The tournament will aslo play host to strong baseball teams from the Bahamas, Taiwan, and the Beijing Tigers, the highest ranked team in that China. Cuba and Japan will be seeded at the top for the tournament.
The World Baseball Challenge is co-sponsored by the Toronto Blue Jays and the City of Prince George and is held every two years. The tournament is considered one of the most prestigious in the world and the caliber of teams, improving each year, supports its lofty stature.
Doucette, recently retired Dry pitcher Jason Bailey, and Halifax pitcher Barrett Bellefontaine attended the tournament in 2009 when Prince George entered its own team.
Nova Scotia Opens Games with Loss
There was a great crowd on hand at the Metro Centre Saturday evening, as the host team Nova Scotia took the ice against a perennial favourite from Ontario.
It looked like it was going to be a close game as it was scoreless late into the first period. With less than a minute left in the first Team Ontario got on the board with a goal from David Perklin.
Team Nova Scotia had prime chances to draw even with an early powerplay chance in the second period, but were unable to capitalize. That seemed to set the story for the entire evening for the Bluenosers.
Led by the highly touted Nathan MacKinnon, Nova Scotia generated opportunities, but never seemed able to mount prolonged pressure on the Upper Canadian squad. MacKinnon showed flashes of the talent that has him projected as the first overall pick in the upcoming QMJHL draft, but he just couldn’t get one by the Ontarian netminder.
At the other end, Jacob Fancy made a number of stellar saves to keep his team in the game. While it was still 1-0 in the second, Fancy faced several odd-man rushes, but stood tall and made a spectacular glove save to keep Nova Scotia close.
But Ontario was able to consistently put pressure on the defense of Nova Scotia and inevitably the puck began to go in.
Jordan Maletta (1G, 1A) and Bo Horvat (2A) both had multi-point games in leading Ontario to a 5-0 win over Nova Scotia.
Both teams get right back into the action tomorrow as Nova Scotia face British Columbia, while Ontario takes on Quebec.
Full Results from Saturday:
PEI – 10
YUK – 1
NFL – 7
NWT – 1
MAN – 4
NB – 6
BC – 4
QUE – 5 OT
ATLA – 4
SASK – 0
NS – 0
ONT – 5
Canada in Search of First Little League World Series title
The Little Mountain Mountaineers celebrate after winning the Canadian Little League Championship on August 14, 2010
The international baseball tournament kicked-off yesterday in Williamsport, PA with teams from Pools B and C taking to the field. Little Mountain, representing Canada, is in Pool D along with teams from Saudi Arabia, Panama and Chinese Taipei.
The Mountaineers will face Panama in their first game, which can be seen on TSN2 at 1:00 pm ET.
If Canada wins its opener in the 16-team, double-knockout event, it will get a day off before playing the winner of Taiwan and Saudi Arabia on Monday afternoon. If Canada loses, it will be play the Taiwan-Saudi Arabia loser on Sunday.
Highly Touted 