Fastball pitcher Schofield bound for nationals

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

Justin Schofield has been playing softball since the age of five. Now 18 and a recent Horton graduate, the White Rock resident is pitching for three different teams this summer and will represent Nova Scotia at the national midget fastball championships.

“I started off in local leagues,” Schofield says. “By age 12, I was travelling back and forth to St. Croix to play at a higher level.

“It had reached the point where I wasn’t getting any better,” he says of playing against youngsters his own age. “I struggled a bit the first couple of years (playing in a men’s league), but I worked at it, and now I’m on the provincial team.”

He also plays for the Berwick Eassons intermediate team and for a midget team in West Hants.

“If your aim is to pitch at the national level, you need to pitch as often as you can, be in as good a shape as possible and be ready to go when the time comes.”

For Schofield, the taste of national competition will come beginning next week, at the national midget championships Aug. 3 to 10 in Brantford, Ont.

The provincial team, technically a 19-and-under squad that plays against 19-and-under competition, “is set up to compete at the North American 19-and-under championships next summer (July 5 to 12, 2009) in Charlottetown, so we’re all still just 18.”

For that reason, “we’re likely to be underdogs at nationals this year, as we’ll be playing against teams of mostly all 19-year-olds. We’re ranked 10th out of the 11 teams that will be competing, but I feel that’s underestimating us.”

Nova Scotia won silver at the last Canada Games, which has since dropped fastball.

“Nova Scotia hasn’t sent a team to nationals in years,” Schofield says, and that, plus the age factor, “should give us a little extra incentive and motivation.”

The North American championships will feature “teams from every province in Canada plus four to six teams from the U.S. and also from Mexico.” The field will be “the best of the best” in the 19-and-under age group – just fine with Schofield.

“I want to go as far in softball as it will take me, or allow me to go,” he says. “There are people right here in Nova Scotia who do nothing but play softball. People pay them to play in tournaments. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach that level, but I’ll take it as far as I can. I’ve been given a talent; I may as well use it.”

One of the ways softball differs from baseball is pitchers can (and are permitted to) pitch two and even three times in a day, if they are able. For Schofield, who “prefers to be more involved” in the game, that’s just fine as well.

“I played one year of baseball, but I like softball a lot better. You can throw all the time, and you’re more involved in the game. At a national baseball tournament, I might get to start one game. I’d rather be more involved than that.”

At nationals, he should get ample chance to be busy and involved.

“Our provincial team only has three starting pitchers, and we’re likely to play 10 games, so we’ll get lots of playing time - just the way I like it.”