lebe Little League's Major baseball team ended the competitive summer season as District 6's first Major B champions of the new millennium by beating South Ottawa 7-5 in the final game of the playoffs, thus ending the League's five-year drought as division champs. Glebe last won this championship in 1995.
Highlights of the final game included a home run by Dante Cacciato, strong pitching by Shawn Hargadon and solid team defence. Season tournament highlights included finalists in Perth where Dante pitched a no-hitter and champions in Knapps Station, New York.
Coached by Terri Semanyk, Graham Long, Tim Ryan and Josh Clipperton, this group of 11- and 12-year-olds dedicated their summer to endless practices and regular season games, coupled with several weekend tournaments and an intense week of District playdown games in July. Alex MacGregor recalled that "Glebe was the talk of the Districts because, in previous years, we weren't exactly a strong team."
Team co-captains were Dante Cacciato, Shawn Hargadon and Ian White. "The team did surprisingly well given that we were a bit sloppy in past years," remarked Dante. "Thisyear the team really came through. Along with having a good time, we also had good coaching which is very necessary and we all made a few achievements as individuals."
Ian thought part of the team's success was due to the number of second-year players. "The teams we faced this year weren't necessarily better than us. It's fun if you win once in a while. Having pretty much the same team each year also means that we've all become good friends and understand each other as players. Young coaches helped too because they understand kids." According to Shawn, "We really played together as a team". He also mentioned the social side to playing ball, noting that he has made some new friends because of playing on the team.
Long-time coach Terri Semanyk reflected that, 'This was one of my very best years in terms of wins and losses. The team had lots of support from the assistant coaches and parents and we managed to build a lot of stamina in the team which not only showed up in the final win but also in the final tournament in Orleans where we won three out of four games. It was a great year and we had lots of fun."
Graham Long, who has coached for three years, credits the successful season to "working really hard for21/2 months with kids who had a strong commitment to playing baseball. They came together as a team and showed that they were one of the best teams in the Ottawa-Carleton region. The kids were also fun to coach. They didn't fight or argue with each other and no one thought they were better than anyone else."
First-year coach Tim Ryan supports this view. "You couldn't have asked for a better group of kids. They had so much talent and were easy to coach as long as they stayed focused. After this experience, I willdefinitely coach again. From Graham and Terri I learned how to act as a coach with kids, what to say to them and how to react in different situations. How they dealt with the kids really helped me."
Dante Cacciato and Ian White have been selected to represent Glebe on the District 6 all-star team in a game against District 2. Special thanks to Jesse Jacobs for his contribution to the team early in the summer and Zac Rankin for helping out when the team was short of players.