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Welcome to the Menu Page which will feature the Webmaster's Top Ten of 2007. What will be number one? What is the biggest moment of 2007 in Basher Land? Stay tuned...you may not agree with the list, but I betcha the list will generate a lot of discussion on the greatest moments of this season for all who were involved in SAMBA this year.
Honorable Mentions
Tanner Swim leads Batting Chase halfway through season: To summarize Tanner Swim (20/23 .870) led the Batting race halfway through the season is his first year as a Rookie. That's right...my man Tanner, leading the charge for the GS Bashers. It came as such as a shock, I guess, due to the power in the line up that came before him, however, there he was, number one, Mr. Clutch, Mr. Single, "hey someone hit me home please"... A wonderful, coachable baseball player, expect big things from Mr. Swim in the future.
Squirt Girls Parade Float Shines: the Squirt Girls were the only representatives of SAMBA in the Exhibtion Parade, but did they ever do the Association proud. Smiles, giggles, laughter, it was a blast. And with this team the youngest team in the area, look for Haley, Kistyn, and all the girls to continue to impress and succeed as they move into 2008.
Let the Countdown Begin
#10 Nothing Like the First Time
Colin Bradley in Woods Harbour, a screamer, a no doubter, to silence the webmaster (who had taken away one of his homeruns, scoring it a triple plus an error on his in the park cruise around the bases)and Doug Poole, a looping arching momentum shifting homerun (in Creignish, Bronze Medal game), both hit their first Over the Fence Home Runs this year. Having never hit one, I can’t even imagine the rush a baseball player gets from watching the ball finally leave the yard. I have no confirmation of a Bantam hitting his first Out of the Park Homerun, however, if said event did occur, let me know so I can add it their name to the above prestigious list of Bashing batters. (Mini Shout out to all those players who hit their first in the park homeruns this year)
What a moment: just like the Big Leaguers and all their favourite players….just like the Little League World Series and those gifted youth players, a couple of our Bashers experienced one of the ultimate firsts in the sport this year. Only a lucky few saw both of them. I only saw one and I am jealous.
In our 10 + moment, we salute the newest members to the Basher Nation Family who bashed for the first time this year. Go Young Padawans, Lil Base Ballas Go. Every parent remembers the first time their little boy or girl played a game, the first time they hit the ball off the tee, the first time they catch the ball, the first time they do everything on the ball field. What kind of a Top Ten List would this be without some love and respect to our littlest Bashers and to Roddy and all those who volunteered every Monday evening to teach the fundamentals to these young ones. I wish I could have been there to watch one their exhibition games: if I had, it probably would have made the Top Ten List outright!
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#9 Bowood Field Fully Operational
After years of heartache and frustration, the former Youth Centre was finally sold by Team Shelburne. Buried in the political mess that abandoned the workers, the facility, and the town, the cold state property was given a new life with the acquisition by the MacDonnell Group. The Group quickly moved into action, literally and figuratively paving the wave for the return of one of the hottest recreational spots in the area for youth. The place has been buzzing ever since with ongoing maintenance and development onsite as the new Bowood plants its roots deep into the Shelburne soil.
A feel good story for the whole town really, consideriing the afore mentioned trainwreck of unfortunate events that led to the complex almost being completely lost. But instead of bulldozers and wreckers flooding the site for demolition, the Goulden Shell Bashers and Auto Parts Bashers, our two Rookie teams this year, squared off in exhibition play at the newly renovated (Mr. Swansburg for the heavy machinery and dirt and time, Mr. Conrad and the coaches who volunteered to build the new player benchs and the fabulous back stop) during the site's first Open House. With interested members of the community floating around everywhere checking out the rejuvenated site, our little Bashers were the Main Event, the Big Show, the Headliner, the ShowStopper.
With dumptrucks and backhoes roaring the roads back to tip top shape beside them, the teams lived up to all the hype. With pre game press releases and advertising (I got a flyer in my mailbox inviting me to come watch the Bashers play on the newly restored Bowood Field), the kids stepped up and delivered a good game, just like they always do. Andy Bradley's pic was massively featured in the Coast Guard Sports Section. The partnership between Bowood and the Bashers was complete, and it was called good.
With further development plans for the Bowood Field,(and the two Rookie teams, with over 80% of the kids from this year returning next year to continue the hunt for fame and glory), the field will become another main field for the SAMBA teams to play on, allowing the Association to exand its tournament bracket potential and hosting abilities. With so many kids coming through the program, it could not have happened at a better time. Bowood Field, it is nice to have you back.
#8 Goulden Shell Bashers Conquer Athletic Machine
Ahhhhh….the pitching machine…sounds scary, like a big massive tank looking machine that blasts flaming balls at you…and not at the strike zone either so you can hit it…no, not this terror of a machine…it spits it right at you: these things try to kill you….
Just joking, and any Goulden Shell Basher who made the voyage to Hammonds Plains this year will tell you that. Piece of cake really: its too bad that the last day was rained out: the Bashers were starting to bash that machine all over the park. Home runs, triples, big time baseball in the big city. This tournament trip was the farthest SAMBA reached its tentacles during the regular season, (the Bantams travelled to Dartmouth for Provincials, the Peewees to Creignish Cape Breton), and the little team did extremely well, eventually. And that is why this is number eight on the Webmaster Top Ten of 2007. You see, the team finished with no wins, one loss, and one tie and were rained out of their Sunday games so never really got to blow up the Pitching Machine as they seemed poised to do. You see, forgiving redundancy, the team got off to a real rocky start in the first game seeing the ominous machine. A real rocky start.
Batter after batter, one two three in a row for four innings in a row. Just couldn’t get it, just a little bit off, a little bit high, a little bit low, a little bit fast, a little bit slow: just enough that the vaunted Basher lineup were mowed down like never before. Coltan Wagner finally got a piece of one in his first at bat, but the ball dribbled to first for an easy out. Almost. This was going to be a long day.
The belief from the coaches and interested observers, or maybe it was hope that we called belief, was that the team would figure it out some time, whether it took a couple of games or not. A good team will meet challenges head on and overcome them. And so this team did: each and every one of them, the very next time they faced the pitching machine.
Lead off Hitter Nathaniel Brown (oh what a year little dude, kudos for battling through the nasty strikeout streak: mental toughness is a gift), finally plugged one and legged it out to record the team’s first hit of the day, opening the floodgates for the team’s remarkable comeback in their first game of the tournament. All the Bashers up and down the lineup bashed their fears away, including homeruns by Drew and Avery, falling short in the game 7-6 in the end. It was awesome. Everybody was so proud of how the team had overcome this challenge in such a winning fashion. Playing in a Senior Rookie Tournament in Halifax, the team showed the metro area that this little team from Shelburne will be a major factor on the provincial scene both in the Rookie Division next year, but also in Mosquito and Peewee (where the Bashers are already perennial contenders for the Nova Scotia Banner) as these players move up the system.
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#7 Lobster Pile at the Chase
First, yes, there is a lobster underneath that mess of kids in the picture...look for the small bits of squeeshed red at either end of the pile. And yes, I may need some help, some medical assistance...like Super Dave, I believe that my spleen may have shot 300 yards over the fence! :)
To best understand the Lobster Pile, a short history is in order: The Lobster Cup had its genesis during the winter months, my son looking up at me and asking if we could create a tournament that would be fun and cool for the Rookie Division. We tried our best: rain cancelled our Spider Bounce (you kids don’t even wanna know how fun that would have been), the Lobster Scramble got scrambled (grrrrr), and tournament cancellations at the midnight hour almost ruined the whole thing. Almost.
Ultimately, the Lobster Cup was a huge success. With only four teams, the tournament evolved away from the original Big Ticket Event into a grass roots baseball weekend. As tournament organizer, I remembered how upset I was with the many pitfalls we had thrown our way all weekend. Then something happened: dressed as the first, and ugliest, Bearded Lobster Man, I got mashed by a bunch of laughing baseball players. (Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt…that costume is made of thick durable kid safe foam). You know, it is hard to be upset, mad, angry, when you are dressed up as a gigantic cooked lobster with skinny chicken legs. I remembered all that was awesome about the tournament: FASTEST PITCH contest was fun for all, FASTEST RUNNER was cool and featured some incredibly fast runners, BBQ was rocking and rolling all day and night, BEATMIXER on the microphone announcing the kids like they were playing in the majors echoing across the entire Complex, VOLUNTEERS fighting sunburns, juggling schedules, umpiring games (thanks again Peewee Basher Umps…you are a lot better at it than me), SPONSORS funding our awesome medals and kick butt trophy….IT WAS A GREAT TIME FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.
Hammonds Plains Association is already committed to attending next year (same place, same time) to defend their championship. Two Shelburne teams will be there too, of course, hosting the province, maybe even the world. Will you be there? To confirm and book now for the 2008 Chase for the Lobster Cup, contact us here at shelburnebashers@gmail.com Attn: Lobster Cup.
#6 Scotia Bank Turns it Up a Notch
Scotiabank stepped up big time in 2007 with the largest charitable contribution of the season, paying the foundational cost of not only the Scotia Bank Mosquito Bashers but also covering the necessary cost of our Scotia Bank Ball School Program (where our littlest players learn the game for the first time, totalling 30 kids)and a percentage of the Squirt Girls costs. A huge boost to the Association, it is imperative each and every year that SAMBA find big sponsors to help keep the costs per player low. These charitable acts enabled SAMBA to buy new uniforms for all teams, unleashing the first wave of Bashers United on the province in 2007.
From all in Basher Nation, big thanks to Scotia Bank and all of the other sponsors who helped us out this year: be it lending us speaker equipment or radar guns or funding the outfitting of the boys and girls of summer here in Shelburne, your kindness and generosity will never be forgotten.
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#5. Top Four Finishes for Peewees and Rookies in House League
In the Rookies, the greatly improved GS Bashers went in looking to defend the Championship won the year before by the SparkPlugs (the last team of the Pre Basher Era to win a Rookie Championship based out of Shelburne, just a little tidbit of history for you there), finishing 3-0 in their pool, but losing in the crossover game to Clark’s Harbour #3 in a hotly contested seesaw battle. It was a disappointing end to a great season for the Goulden Shell Bashers who look to be early contenders for next year’s League Championship with only three players moving up to Mosquito in 2008: along side the now experienced Auto Parts Basher Rookie squad, who lose only one player, the Shelburne Minor Ball Rookie system looks to be running on all engines.
On the Peewee Side, the team found itself in the final four (9 team tournament) in the tournament held in Clark’s Harbour, losing to Woods Harbour in the semi final. Playing aggressive ball, ala provincials in Creignish, the young team showed that they will be a force next year in Peewee Ball with only 4 players moving up to Bantam and the inheritance of the Silver Medal winning Mosquito Bashers that move up in 2008.
The webmaster will take this opportunity to say good luck to all players who are moving up to the next level, taking that next step if you will, next year. Like all Bashers, you probably don’t need luck , but hey, its free, so have some.
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#4. Peewees South District Champions - Provincials Bound
Being the only team that has to play their way into Provincials can be tough. With the Mosquito Bashers receiving their second bye in as many years (hosting teams get automatic bid) and the Bantams automatically into their Provincials (with only a limited number of teams in the province in the R classification), the Peewees found themselves locked in a Best of Three Series with the Woods Harbour Navigators. With the series tied one to one, (Navigators won game two in a two day split game), the Bashers came out running and gunning to 10 run the Woods Harbour squad and earn the South District spot in the Provincial final. The team went on to finish 2-3 at Provincials finishing fourth, including a one run lose (7-6) to the Silver Medal winning Eastern Passage Squad and a 4 run victory over the Gold Medal winning Inverness squad.
Four days on the Island, approximately $5000 in costs, biggest rain storm in recent memory and countless other hiccups and heart attacks, but the youngest team in the tournament played extremely well all weekend long. Not unexpectedly from a team that worked so hard to raise the money to make the long trip to Cape Breton: with the majority returning next year, one would think this Basher squad may have some unfinished business. With two consecutive South District Provincial Playdown wins, the Peewee Bashers look poised to make another run at a Baseball Nova Scotia Championship in 2008.
#3.Squirt Girls win First Game in Clarks Harbour VS Clarks Harbour 18-17
Is there is better story this year then this Pink and Blue baseball team (I hear next year they will have full blown pink uniforms) : from the dream to the geneisis to the reality of an all girls softball team at such a young age level, the story of these Lady Bashers is nothing short of fab-u-lous. If anybody out there has some action pics from this exciting run by the girls, burn them on a disc and put them somewhere safe...you may want to look at them while savouring a provincial title in the not so distant future. The Parade Princesses (is that even spelled right), will not be forgotten....they need some sort of big home tournament or something...some night games...get the fans out to see the pink spectacle!!!!!!
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>#2 Mosquito Bashers Win Silver
At the Mosquito R Provincials in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, improving on the team’s third place finish in the 2006 Provincial Championship also hosted in Shelburne. Hosting for the second straight year, the team lost by a single run to county rivals Woods Harbour in the first Championship game for the Basher Nation under the new Blue and Gray colours. A mash of players from around the county, (both Barrington and Lockeport Associations were without representative teams in Mosquito) the team was anchored by solid pitching and effective hitting up and down the lineup. The team was solid all year, and parlayed their success on the Baseball Nova Scotia Provincial Stage into their biggest feat of the season, and our number One Moment of 2007:
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#1. Mosquito Bashers win League Title
For the first time in SAMBA history, a Shelburne team emerged from the Shelburne County Pack to stand alone on the top of the mosquito division mountain as the 2007 Champions. With the House League in the area so extensive (remembering that Liverpool fields their teams in our league rather than the South Shore area (Bridgewater and area)), the Year Ending Tournament victory was a well earned title for the team coming off their Runner Up performance at the Mosquito R 2007 Provincials in Shelburne.
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