Huron Expositor, 2007-09-12, Page 18Page 18 The Huron Expositor • September 12, 2007
Minor ball players
have good year,
say coaches
Aaron Jacklin
Baseball has wrapped up for the season and the
kids who played for Seaforth and Winthrop had a
good year, according to their coaches.
The Seaforth peewee girls had five wins, nine loss-
es and no ties, according to coach Tracy Alexander -
Mitchell.
The peewee girls went into the year-end tourna-
ment in fifth place, two close games with
Londesboro and Ethel, but lost both. Since it was a
double -elimination tournament, they were out, end-
ing up in fifth place overall.
"The girls played so well," she said.
She noted the 20 -player team was huge, which
made things "pretty chaotic at the start with 20
teenage girls."
She enlisted help from her brother and husband,
both of whom helped her coach.
"I think it was when they got their uniforms they
started playing like a team," she says, noting their
sportsmanship and attitudes went up "tenfold" after
that.
"It was amazing," Alexander -Mitchell said.
"They're a great group of girls."
The Seaforth peewee boys had two wins, seven
losses and one tie, according to coach Scott Robinson
who said the team was quite large.
"There were 16 guys on the roster," he said. "I
think there were five of those who hadn't played ball
before, so there was a pretty steep learning curve."
Robinson said the team did well in the tourna-
ment.
"In the end we did pretty good. We were on the B
side of the tournament and won our first two games.
That was as many as we'd won all year," he said.
They won against Ripley and Lucknow in the
Lucknow tournament before playing Ripley again
and losing to them in the B final.
"All in all, we improved and had a lot of fun. I
think I had seven different pitchers throw so we had
a lot of different guys trying pitching," he said.
Robinson said a lot of improvement in base run-
ning and hitting over the season. He said first-year
players gained a lot of skills.
The Seaforth mite two team had a good season
with nine wins, six losses and one tie.
"The season started a little slow," said coach
Stephen Kropf. "We turned it on about a quarter of
the way through the season, ending up with a win-
ning record by the end of the season."
They played two games in the Londesboro tourna-
ment, losing the first 24-8 to Benmiller's second
team and winning the second 16-11 against Stanley.
"That was it for our tournament," he said. "We had
basically lost two innings out of the whole tourna-
ment but didn't move on to the finals."
Seaforth mite one team had an even season over
See KIDS, Page 27
Aaron Jacklin photo
Melanie Nolan, 9 and Lauren Bedard, 10, go through some skating drills at a recent practice of atom
girls' hockey at the Seaforth arena last Thursday.
More dressing rooms needed
as girls' hockey expands
Aa
ron Jacklin
4111.1111111111111110
While Seaforth area kids got the most atten-
tion for returning to classrooms last Tuesday,
many also made an appearance in the hockey
rink.
Minor hockey started for the
season with hour long practices
at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. and hour
and a half long practices at 8
and 9:30 p.m.
Seaforth Minor Hockey
President Ron Pryce says they've
been way ahead of where they've
been in previous years because
they held registration during the
spring.
"There were over 200 kids reg-
istered," he said. "It's the first
year we had our registration in
the spring and it was the best
turnout we've ever had."
On the boys' teams, Pryce says
atom, peewee, bantam and midget.
"Girls hockey in general has definitely been
getting stronger each year," said Pryce.
Female players have been a bit of a conun-
drum for the association because they have a
limited number of change rooms.
"We have brought it to the
arena bo'ard's attention," says
Pryce, noting that the board was
already thinking about the issue.
"(In) some age groups, the girls
play with the boys and they need
their own dressing room," he
says. "When you only have four,
and it's a Saturday and there's
game after game scheduled, then
it's hard to give the girls their
own room."
The Saturday morning house
league program is where Pryce
says is the big problem.
"We have two boys' teams
dressing in one room so the girls
can have the other," he says.
there are 30 kids registered in "There may only be three or four
the 4- and 5 -year-old level. girls in the other room, but there
There is one team each for the tykes and isn't anything we can do about it."
novices, with about a dozen players on each. A public meeting to discuss renovating the
"Everything above there, we've got two lobby of the arena to allow for more changing
teams. There's two atom, two peewees, two rooms has been scheduled for today (Sept. 12)
bantams and two midgets and they all aver- at 7 p.m.
age 12 to 15 players." at 7 p.m.
There are four girls' teams, one each for
`(In) some age
groups, the
girls play with
the boys and
they need their
own dressing
room,'--
Seaforth Minor
Hockey
president Ron Pryce