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MacDonald seeks national softball championship
Gail MacDougall
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Shortstop Trent MacDonald, Arisaig, unleashes a throw to first base in tournament action last weekend in Guysborough. MacDonald is a valued member of the Murphy's Fish and Chips Eagles. The Eagles will represent Nova Scotia at the Canadian Junior Softball Championships slated for St. Croix Aug. 2-8.
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Murphy’s Fish and Chips Eagles will represent Nova Scotia at the Softball Canada Junior championships at St. Croix, Hants County, Aug. 2 to 8.
Among the key contributors to the provincial squad is Arisaig native Trent MacDonald.
MacDonald, a shortstop, has competed in the national tournament the past two summers and last year earned a bronze medal with the Nova Scotia Midget squad. The team also hit the podium with a third place performance at the World championships.
Coach Jamie Wentworth said MacDonald has stepped out of a good midget program and despite being a first-year junior age player will play a major role for the Eagles.
“Trent’s a mature ball player,” Wentworth said.
“He’ll bring some pretty good experience even though he’s a rookie with us. He’s a go-to guy – a guy who really wants the ball in tough situations on defense. Offensively he’s probably as good as any junior hitter at moving the ball. He’s not a real power hitter but he is capable of putting the ball over the fence. He can play the short game and really he’s an all-round good softball player.”
The provincial junior representatives have played 50-plus games this year. Many of the game were played in the Maritime Senior League facing teams from Fredericton, Charlottetown, Brookfield and Glace Bay.
“We also played a lot of exhibition games,” Wentworth said.
The Nova Scotia team was in Guysborough last weekend competing in the Billy Kennedy Memorial Tournament held at the Drysdale Ball Field.
The Eagles posted a 5-0 record to take top honours. They defeated Halifax Blackburn 4-3 in the championship game after elimination Guysborough in semi-final action.
Wentworth said his squad has won more than 75 percent of their games.
MacDonald is busy with school work as well, living in Halifax while taking engineering and psychology courses.
Despite a fair amount of travel this summer MacDonald has been diligent in combining both school and athletics. MacDonald said Brookfield has been the host area for many practices and games.
“We’ve played a lot of good teams and have played pretty well,” MacDonald said.
“I’m happy with my decision to play and I’m having a blast playing.”
MacDonald is seeing a lot of work at shortstop, although occasionally helping out at second base.
The 20-year-old, who has been playing the sport since the age of five, suggests his biggest contributions come from his defensive game but added his offensive game is not too bad.
“I play a lot of small ball,” he commented.
“I can hit the occasional home run and that generally brings a bit of a smile when I do that. They don’t come in bunches though, that’s for sure.”
MacDonald said he has been bounced around the line-up but of late has been hitting in the two-slot.
“I like that position,” he said.
“I get to try a lot of things including some slap bunting. That keeps the defense on its toes.”
The infielder said the Nova Scotia team has tremendous depth, while also employing solid positional players.
He said the club is balanced overall.
Pitching is the name of the game at the national tournament and MacDonald boasts Nova Scotia will be a leader in that department.
Donnelly Archibald (Aspen) and Justin Schofield (Kings County) have handled the bulk of the pitching chores this summer, while Cory Avery (Larry’s River) a stalwart on last year’s squad has recently joined the team after playing in California since April. A new addition is Tyson Barkman from Abbotsford, B.C. Each junior club is permitted to add one import.
Archibald was the MVP of the Billy Kennedy Memorial tournament.
Patrick Avery (Larry’s River), who was injured five weeks ago breaking a bone in his hand is also with the team.
The younger of the brothers, who wields a solid bat, is expected to see the majority of his work in center field.
Cory Avery and Barkman are members of Canada’s national senior team talent pool.
“Cory is one of the best pitchers in the country at the junior level,” Wentworth said.
“Donnelly and Cory will be playing in junior nationals for the third time and along with Barkman they will see the bulk of the rotation. Both Cory and Donnelly did very well last year. Justin will fill the role of the closing position.”
Aaron Long another player from Guysborough played with MacDonald on the Nova Scotia midget team last summer.
Wentworth said Long is a utility player who has worked the corners at first and third.
“He also has the skills to play at this level,” the coach commented.
Defensively MacDonald said the Nova Scotia team is solid and he will match the club up with any in the competition.
“I wouldn’t trade any of them – that’s for sure,” he said.
Nova Scotia placed second last year losing 4-2 to Newfoundland in the final held in Owen Sound, Ont.
“This year we have basically the same pitching and in comparison to last year’s team its felt this one might be a touch better,” MacDonald said.
“I would be very disappointed if we weren’t playing on Sunday (gold medal game).”
MacDonald said historically teams from British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland have done well at the under-23 national tournament.
“I can’t wait to get going,” he said.
Action begins Monday and Wentworth said Nova Scotia will play nine games in four days of round-robin competition.
Wentworth said in go-to games MacDonald will be the starting shortstop.
“We’re looking for big things from him,” Wentworth said.
“In national championships there is a fair bit of pressure in some games and he just doesn’t seem to panic.”
Wentworth has high expectations for his club citing team depth as the key ingredient. He believes the team building is there and so is the offense, the defense and the pitching.
“These guys are ready to go and they want this thing to happen,” Wentworth said.
“We know the competition very well, so we know what’s coming and we think we’re as good as anyone in the country. Now that doesn’t mean that you’re always going to win but it makes us awfully hard to be beat.”
The players have been at nationals before and came away with second place, once as midgets and once as juniors.
“Make no mistake they don’t want any more silver medals,” Wentworth said.
“They know they’re good enough to win.”
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