But while other teams were fostering players destined to play in the big leagues, I played my first two years for the Cowichan Valley Canadians. We just happened to be the worst team in the league both years. But to tell you the truth, the season of 2003 was probably the most fun I've ever had playing baseball. See we weren't the Cowichan Valley Canadians, we were the Cowichan Valley Country Club. We went out and played hard, but we also had a shitload of fun. We were so bad we became conditioned to losing and we took it in stride. We won two of our first six games, and proceeded to lose the next 18 straight. Sitting at 2-22, our playoff hopes were long gone. Our coach was fired, and we became the league circus. New coaches were brought in, and you know what? We started to play better. We won six of our last twenty games (that's supposed to be good? lol) to finish the season 8-36.
One moment from that season stands out in the minds of all the players. It was an early July evening, a perfect night for baseball. The Victoria Mariners, our hated rivals since a lot of us CVers are actually from Victoria, were up in Chemainus to face off against us. They were a bunch of cocky bastards, and they treated us like rejects. The pitching matchup was a great one, our ace versus their ace. Kody Furnseth (our ace, no longer in baseball) vs Michael Saunders (Cdn National Team, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Seattle Mariners)). The game was tied 1-1 going to the bottom of the seventh, living up to all the pre-game expectations. For some reason, Bob Mabee, the Victoria manager, pulled Mike. He put in his son, Henry (Morehead State University) to pitch the 7th. He gets the first two batters out, and we're all preparing for extra innings. Our Saltspring Slugger, Mason Scott (New Mexico Military Institute) is up to bat with two outs and nobody on. I'm sitting on the bench outside the dugout with my teammate Brian White (Pratt College, KS), and I comment to him how unbelievable it would be if Mason took Henry deep right here. Next pitch, not ten seconds after my comment, Henry delivers the pitch and Mason hits one deep to the opposite field just over the right centre wall. WOW. We all went absolutely crazy. The game was meaningless in the whole scheme of things, yet it had so much meaning to all of us. The Country Club had defeated the "vaunted" Mariners. What a great feeling.
We went on to beat them again later in the year (2-2 for the year) when I hit a two run single in the bottom of the sixth to complete a comeback from down 5-0 to win 7-6. I also got the win that game, despite pitching quite poorly.
Other highlights of the year include tying Langley (the best team in the league) 1-1 at the Parksville tournament and sweeping Abbotsford on their home field.Yes we were shitty, yes we got our asses handed to us each weekend. But we did have fun. And we did get a few victories along the way which were made all the more sweet after losing so much.
On a sadder note, one of my coaches that year, Bruce Kielbieski, has seen his gall bladder cancer spread throughout his body and he is not much longer for this world. My thoughts are with him, his wife Terry and children Cody and Ashley.
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