Richmond City Chuckers defied the odds just to reach the semi-finals of their own Victoria Day Tournament but they weren't going to slow down an Alberta juggernaut.
The Chuckers’ bid to capture the 15U AAA 10-team event ended Monday morning with a semi-final loss to the Okotoks Dawgs. The academy team, from the Calgary suburb, then capped a perfect weekend at Blundell Park by steamrolling WestCoast 9-0 in the championship game.
Richmond entered Sunday's final day of round-robin competition with a 1-2 record and needed a win and much more to keep its title hopes alive. An impressive 5-0 triumph over another Calgary area team also helped their run differential cause, while WestCoast provided a huge assist with wins over Chilliwack and Parkland — vaulting the Chuckers into second place.
“Starting yesterday, we probably had 100-1 odds of getting into the semi-finals but that’s sometimes how baseball goes,” smiled head coach Shawn Hetherington. “It was awesome just to get there, then against a team like Okotoks, we pretty much knew we had to be perfect. To commit a few early errors made it almost impossible to come back. They have a lot of big boys who swing well right through the line-up and they pitch well too. We knew we had to play our best to hang with them.”
The Chuckers’ closed out the tournament with an 8-4 loss to the Delta Tigers in what was a rematch of last year’s championship game. Still, Hetherington had his eye on the bigger picture too which was a weekend full of excellent opponents and building towards the B.C. Minor provincial championships in late July which Richmond happens to be hosting.
“We have been on a growing path since the start go the season and moving in the right direction,” continued Hetherington whose team owns a 10-3-1 league record. “We have a good mix here — older guys who can lead the team and younger guys who are developing.
“We have the advantage of hosting the provincials so our approach can be more about development than cut throat having to win every game to make sure you get in there. We keep reminding them to keep that focus and get to our best at the end of the season.”
Hetherington’s arrival is part of a new chapter for the highly-regarded Richmond City Baseball program after an impressive long tenure by Alex and Ryan Klenman. Alex remains with the team in an administrative role while the coaching reigns have been handed over to Hetherington and his staff that includes Jack Thompson and Steve Hepburn.
Hetherington was a standout pitcher for the UBC Thunderbirds who went on to play for the Calgary Vipers of the North American League before taking his career to Europe and Australia. He returned home to complete his Masters of Kinesiology at UBC and also teamed up with Thompson to launch 5 Tool Baseball.
“Jack and I started a training company because we knew what we had to offer,” added Hetherington. “We started working with a bunch of these guys and got approached with this opportunity. It’s a good group of kids and we love coaching the game.”
