SUDBURY - “It was amazing; an awesome experience,” Brett Stacey said.
Stacey and St. Marys teammate Jared Zufelt, both 15, are members of the WOBA Bantam Bulls, who competed in the baseball event here at the 2010 Ontario Summer Games last week.
The Bulls—a Western Ontario all-star team—won two and lost three in the six-team tournament, and didn’t bring home a medal, but the Games left a positive impression with both Stacey and Zufelt.
"Even off the field, all teams got along really well," Stacey said. "It was just a great time.
"It was a good calibre of baseball and the coaches were really great, too."
Stacey was on the field 33 of the 35 innings his team played. He played mainly in the outfield, but also pitched five innings and caught one inning.
Zufelt took his turn as pitcher and catcher, and played shortstop and third base as well.
In addition to playing for the Bulls, Stacey and Zufelt are members of the St. Marys Bantam baseball team.
Sun Parlour won the gold medal, defeating York Simcoe in the final.
Competes in hoops
Another young athlete from St. Marys who competed at Ontario Games was Shauna Simpson. She played forward for the Huron Region women’s basketball team, which lost by just one point, 53-52 to Niagara, in the consolation final.
The Huron team, coached by Tim Doherty and Steve Goforth of Stratford St. Mikes, finished with a 3-2 won-loss record for the week.
Simpson will be starting Grade 9 at DCVI in the fall. A Summer Games teammate was Bridget O’Reilly, who is starting Grade 10 at St. Mikes in the fall.
Note: From Tuesday to Friday last week, 3,650 athletes, coaches and officials took part in 32 official sports at 31 venues in and around Greater Sudbury.