By Michael Gorman
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
At the start of the baseball season it might have come as a surprise to the Chris Scott Construction peewee AAA Gateways if you told them they’d be heading to the Eastern Canadian Nationals Sept. 9-12 in Summerside, P.E.I.
In fact, it probably would have come as a surprise if you told them they would be playing AAA baseball. One year removed from playing A, coaches Aaron Sweeney and Keith Bridgeo — is there a ball team Bridgeo hasn’t coached in this community at some point? — figured their young charges would be headed for the AA leagues.
But then a funny thing happened.
“Logically you would think after you go A you would go AA,” said Bridgeo. “It turned out the AA league was weaker this year than last year overall and we were winning our games quite handily . . . We started thinking we would be competitive if they bump us (up to AAA) and they did bump us.”
The Gateways enjoyed a strong season that culminated with a silver-medal performance at provincials in Cole Harbour, earning them the trip to eastern nationals along with the provincial champion Halifax Braves.
The two coaches describe the team as well balanced with strong pitching and infield defence. Sweeney said one of the real strengths is team chemistry.
“We’re a bit more balanced this year throughout top to bottom than what you usually see in a small community ball team,” he said. “It’s a little bit more contribution from everybody.”
This, perhaps, is also a more general statement about baseball in the area in general.
Ten years ago when numbers were at an all-time low, some wondered if the minor ball ranks would ever recover. Five years ago when a new foundation was being laid the idea of putting together a rep team, much less one that would make it to nationals, would have been farfetched.
That the program has made it to this point — with rep teams at multiple levels — is a testament to player and parent commitment as well as a new crop of coaches who have a background in the game and want to be involved, said Bridgeo.
“We have a dandy mosquito rep team and we’re getting coaches involved who have played baseball who have young children,” he said. “Hopefully the system will build up so that we have that at the bantam level and hopefully we restore a midget program.”
In keeping with tournament rules, the Gateways will add two players — cousins from the Hants North Blue Jays — to their lineup. Bridgeo said the additions should help strengthen the pitching as well as give them a few more options in terms of substitutes, bringing the team’s ranks from 11 players to 13.
“We played them last year in the final and we’ve developed a bit of a friendly relationship with them.”
As for how the team will fit in at nations, Bridgeo said it’s hard to know until you get there but they are looking forward to the trip.
“We have to assume that the other provinces are going to be fairly strong,” he said. “It’s just exciting that we’re going to play Newfoundland, New Brunswick and P.E.I.”
