Shawville fastpitch players face junior Team Quebec

2018-06-12 Liz Draper 256 Views topstory

The donated jerseys feature the names of Shawville players from years past and will be used for participation in tournaments or other special games. Back row, from left: Jared Murray, Marc Levigne, Quinn O’Brien, Steve McCord, Shane Powell, Justin Bennett and Adam Brown. Front row, from left: Trevor Lahey, David Hobbs, Evan Atkinson, Lenny Burger, Matt Greer, Dennis McCleary and Shawn Laframboise.

The Shawville Scrappers show off the names honoured on the back of the jerseys. Back row honours, from left: Dave Reinhart, Bill Keuhl, Randy Powell, and Arthur Dean. Front row honours, from left: Bryan Murray, Brian Holt, John Duff, Bill Selby, Peter Horner, Dave Pilgrim and Donnie Knox.

Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE June 9, 2018
The Shawville Men’s Fastpitch League welcomed the Team Quebec junior team on Saturday, all the while sporting some new jerseys dedicated to the local league’s past.
The Shawville Scrappers played a couple of back-to-back games against the Quebec U23 provincial junior team at Elwood Dale Park, enjoying some hard-fought innings but ultimately coming up a bit short.
While the focus may have been on having a couple of friendly games, as both teams had the allotted free time, the home team also paid tribute to members of the league’s past. Donning the brand-new Shawville Scrappers uniforms, the team was proud to sport the names of past community members and ball players, as the hosted the provincial team.
“It’s guys who’ve played ball in the league and have passed away, and Ralph Horner just wanted to pay tribute to them,” said Matt Greer, coordinator of the Shawville Men’s Fastpitch League. “He presented them to us at the Do It For Daron three-pitch weekend and we were certainly more than happy to wear them whenever we are hosting events, like we did this past weekend.”
Greer explained that while he did not know Horner, he and the league were gracious for the gift, and that the timing of the gift was perfect to have ahead of last Saturday.

“Ralph Horner put together some memorial uniforms and I’d already planned on hosting the Team Quebec juniors,” he continued. “But it was just a recent development that he presented those uniforms to us to wear on occasions such as last weekend.”
Being old chums with the Team Quebec coaches, as Greer played with them in the late 2000’s, he’d been in contact with them in early March about organizing some practice games. With the junior team season starting in July, they took the opportunity to do a bit of touring and play some local teams, as they prepare to host the Junior Nationals this year.
“We said with how well our league is running we would host two games and then they also went over to Micksburg, Ont., to play a double-header on Sunday,” said Greer.
Of course, the provincial team pulled no punches, giving the Scrappers a tough couple of games. Greer said the provincial team is an energetic bunch who have the talent, but also play hard.
“They’re really scrappy,” admitted Greer. “They’re well-coached by Jean-Yves Doucet – he’s also a member of the junior men’s national coaching staff, so he’s really good at teaching the fundamentals of the game.”
The first game on Saturday at 10 a.m. saw Team Quebec emerge with a win, scoring 9 – 4. The Shawville team had held fast till the seventh inning, at which point the juniors paced beyond the locals’ reach. Greer brought in one homer, while his teammate Shawn Laframboise scored the other three with two homers.
The follow-up game took place at noon, and both teams went on the defensive. The Scrappers’ Trevor Lahey was reported to pitch very well for the home team, and Marc “Kayzer” Lavigne took home the solo point in the fifth. This game saw the teams tie with a score of 1 – 1.
Team Quebec continued their tour to Ontario on Sunday, facing the Micksburg Twins in another doubleheader. The Twins won both games, scoring 4 – 0 in the 11 a.m. game and 7 – 0 in the 1 p.m. game.