Future is here for Kentville ball

It’s been a while since there has really been anything much to cheer about in terms of baseball in Kentville.

Yes, the senior Wildcats are normally always competitive, making it to the NSSBL final in both 2006 and 2007, but they lost fairly decisively both times and, so far at least, haven’t found the formula for beating perennial league champions, Dartmouth.

The Wildcats’ veterans aren’t getting any younger and, without either a junior or midget program in Kentville the past two seasons, the list of players vying to replace them is getting shorter.

That’s why it was so nice to see the showing by the Kentville minor baseball teams – the major mosquito A, peewee AA and bantam AA Wildcats – at respective provincial championships on the Aug. 22-24 weekend.

The mosquito Wildcats led the Bluenose League standings for most of the season, then captured the district championship and earned a berth at provincials, where they placed a strong third.

The peewee AA Wildcats were also at or near the top of their league standings for most of the summer, and were asked, on fairly short notice, to host their provincial tournament, an eight-team affair, in Kentville. They did so, and looked impressive in their first three games before losing in the cross-overs and settling for a tie for third.

The bantam Wildcats, the oldest of Kentville’s three competitive minor teams, turned in arguably the most impressive showing. The bantams showed steady improvement and, by playoff time, had found their stride and were playing their best baseball of the season. In the middle of the pack in a competitive Bluenose AA league all season, the Wildcats took on a Hammonds Plains team at districts they hadn’t beaten all season and swept them in two straight games. Then, at provincials in Cape Breton, Kentville continued to surprise, defeating both Tri-County (the pre-tournament favorite) and Bridgewater in the round robin before dropping a 6-3 decision to Antigonish in the cross-overs that was closer than the final margin.

All three of these teams not only all had fine seasons, they - hopefully - in the process learned how to play together as a team, rely on each other as teammates and – most importantly – what it takes to win in a competitive situation.

Each team had its top players (easier to spot as they get older and are exposed to higher levels of competiton), but I was impressed with how well they played together. How well they did was due to a true team effort – a reflection both of good coaching (which all three Kentville teams had, and hopefully will continue to have) and players who are willing to buy into their coaches’ systems and philosophy.

The key to building a successful minor sport program – in this case, baseball – is finding committed individuals willing to take the time required to become coaches, and attracting enough players to form a team. Not always easy to do when there are other summer sports (particularly soccer in this area).

Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing at all wrong with soccer, but there’s something special about baseball and, to me, an area is worse off by far if it permits its baseball infrastructure to erode as Kentville’s was in grave danger of doing.

Hopefully, Kentville’s minor baseball program (which now also includes New Minas) will continue to grow and prosper, and current players on the three Kentville minor teams will improve and enhance their on-field and off-field skills.

There will hopefully be a day, in the not-so-distant future, when Jeff Longaphy, Shaun Boudreau, Brandon Hatt, Dal Seamone, Michael Boylen, Jordan Martin, Trent Oickle, Isaac and Noah Turner, Jacob Lonar, Dominic O’Holleran and Josh Sullivan (to name just a few) will all be playing senior baseball for Kentville.

I hope I’m still around to see it.