Canadian team relishing opportunity in Cape Girardeau

It’s been a journey for many teams to get to this point of the Babe Ruth World Series.

For Canada, their journey has been a long one both on the field and off the field.

Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, the team arrived in Cape Girardeau unsure of what to expect.

“At this age it’s been almost 20 years since we’ve sent a team,” Coach Trevor Lawson said. “I think everyone’s expectations were that Canada wasn’t going to be very good but we’ve made it into bracket play. We’re pumped and we’re ready to go. We know that we can compete with all the teams here and we’re going to try and do some damage tomorrow.”

On top of this being their first taste of Babe Ruth World Series action, Lawson said the weather is much different here.

“It is not this humid,” Lawson said. “It is dry, dry, dry and the elevation is much different. We learned right away that the ball doesn’t fly like it does in Calgary.”

Lawson and his players aren’t the only ones who have made the trip as each game has featured a dedicated section of raucous Canadian supporters. The support from the fans hasn’t gone unnoticed by Lawson or his players.

“The fans have been awesome,” Lawson said. “Monday night when we were playing the host team it was electric in here. We had all sorts of people cheering from us from all over the country. At the end of the day, win or lose, that’s what we’re going to remember.”

Aiden Hines, a member of the Canadian team, said the team is very close knit.

“It’s been a bit of a long journey,” Hines said. “This is the closest team I’ve ever played on. We’re all brothers and it’s just been awesome playing here.”

Randall said the closeness of the group comes from them always hanging out.

“We hang out a lot outside of baseball too,” Randall said. “We’re all super close like Hines said. We’re all similar and do the same things outside of school.”

Being here in Cape Girardeau, they have had the chance to play on turf fields at Capaha Field and Cape Central.

“Fields in Canada are kind of overgrown,” Hines said. “These fields are just really awesome and everyone here loves baseball and cares about baseball.”

For Jack Randall, he’s just thrilled to be here in Cape Girardeau competing for the world series.

“It’s just awesome to finally be here,” Randall said. “When we heard we were coming we were all pumped and it’s lived up to the expectations for sure.”

When the team isn’t at the field they’ve found ways to stay busy, including a trip to St. Louis on Wednesday evening to watch the Cardinals take on the Oakland Athletics.

“We took the team up to St. Louis and toured around there for a bit,” Lawson said. “Other than that we’ve just been getting ready to play ball here.”

Because they’re based in Alberta, they aren’t close to a MLB team. The closest team is the Seattle Mariners. Despite this, Hines keeps his loyalties in Canada.

“Blue Jays all the way,” Hines said. “I’ve only been to a couple games and that’s because my cousins live there but we usually just watch them on SportsNet.”

Another aspect the Canadians have enjoyed is facing talent from all over the world.

“It’s very neat,” Randall said. “They play the game a lot differently and it’s cool to watch and adapt their game into our game.”

Canada finished the pool play round with a record of 2-2 and they will advance to bracket play which begins on Friday, August 18.