Sports

TNT Thunder U11 Select team – a perseverance success story

August 29, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart8

From an inaugural losing season to a current year that will see the team heading to the OBA championships, the TNT Thunder U11 Select baseball team has persevered and shown that hard work, dedication, and practice produce results.

The U11 team was first put together in 2022, after a try-out that saw only ten kids turn out.

That first season the team finished with a 3-19 record.

This current season the Thunder finished with a 16-6 record in regular season and tournament play. They came in second overall in the York Simcoe Baseball Association league.

This means the Thunder will be going to the OBA’s in Hamilton on the Labour Day Weekend with hopes of winning a provincial championship.

The Thunder achieved good results after a lot of practice and hard work. They started training in January indoors at the field house at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre.

“We created the first version of the team two years ago when we held try-outs,” explained U11 Thunder head coach, Dennis Passmore. “We only had ten kids at the try-outs. We were just coming out of COVID, so that affected things, especially at this age level. TNT is a very grass-roots type of baseball program. At the time they were still trying to generate interest and the numbers were still quite low. This current year we had try-outs with around 22 kids. We had a better turnout, and we formed the team which had about half the kids from the previous year.”

Baseball may be a summer sport, but pre-season training is a big deal to make sure a select team is ready to compete.

The Thunder started training indoors at the field house.

“We started in January twice a week,” Dennis explained. “We spent a lot of time at the field house. We had the best defence when we started the season because we were running full infield practices at the field house. The fact that we could set up a full infield and run defensive drills – that was probably the biggest thing. When we hit the field in May we were the best defensive team on the field, by far. We did batting practice in the field house as well. We are an 11U team, but most of our kids are 10 years old, and turning 11.”

During the regular season, the Thunder plays in the YSBA league in the north division, going up against teams from much larger towns and cities.

The Thunder U11 Select team were finalists in the YSBA championships, losing the final game to Barrie by a single run.

They earned the right to compete at the provincial level at the OBA’s.

Hamilton has a large baseball sports field. On the first night of the OBA competition, all teams play simultaneously on six diamonds at the park.

The OBA’s bring the top teams from around the province to compete.

The TNT Thunder U11 Select team will be playing their best game in hopes of bringing home an OBA championship title. 

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