Post by cbisle on Apr 29, 2005 18:26:17 GMT -4
Baseball Sooners return to Cape Breton
CBC News
SYDNEY, N.S. – A baseball team that folded four years ago in Sydney is back at the plate.
The Sydney Sooners have returned to the province's premier league, the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League.
"It's one of the best sports leagues in the country," said Jim (Rico) MacEachern, league president.
"With the likes of Dartmouth winning three nationals in the last nine years, I think that's testimony to the kind of ball that's being played."
Twenty-eight hopefuls came out for the first Sooners tryout. Darrell MacMullin, 21, is hoping to land a pitching position with the team he watched growing up.
"Anytime I could get out I'd be out here watching Richie Walcott, Darren MacMullen all those guys out here with their old wooden bats," he said.
A shortage of players and big travel bills eventually led to the Sooners folding in 2001.
The biggest challenge facing the new Sooners team is travel, said manager and former player George MacLean. Unlike the other teams, Sydney has to play every game on weekends.
So the team will need many strong throwing arms, MacLean said. "Playing three games in less than 24 hours can take its toll on pitchers and catchers."
MacLean will choose his players over the next four weeks. The new Sydney Sooners play their first game May 28.
CBC News
SYDNEY, N.S. – A baseball team that folded four years ago in Sydney is back at the plate.
The Sydney Sooners have returned to the province's premier league, the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League.
"It's one of the best sports leagues in the country," said Jim (Rico) MacEachern, league president.
"With the likes of Dartmouth winning three nationals in the last nine years, I think that's testimony to the kind of ball that's being played."
Twenty-eight hopefuls came out for the first Sooners tryout. Darrell MacMullin, 21, is hoping to land a pitching position with the team he watched growing up.
"Anytime I could get out I'd be out here watching Richie Walcott, Darren MacMullen all those guys out here with their old wooden bats," he said.
A shortage of players and big travel bills eventually led to the Sooners folding in 2001.
The biggest challenge facing the new Sooners team is travel, said manager and former player George MacLean. Unlike the other teams, Sydney has to play every game on weekends.
So the team will need many strong throwing arms, MacLean said. "Playing three games in less than 24 hours can take its toll on pitchers and catchers."
MacLean will choose his players over the next four weeks. The new Sydney Sooners play their first game May 28.
