Local baseball player making his mark on Windsor Selects

By Ron Giofu

The Windsor Selects U15 baseball team were in Amherstburg on the weekend and featured some hometown talent on the squad.

The Selects went up against the visiting Aurora Titans in a pair of doubleheaders at the Libro Centre’s premier diamond, one on Saturday evening and the second one that started Sunday morning. One of the players on this year’s U15 team is Nate Winney of Amherstburg.

Winney moved up a level of baseball to the Selects program and believes he is starting to play well, as is the team.

“I wanted to play for this team,” said Winney. “It’s like the next level for me.”

Assistant coach Tony Simone, who is one of two members of the coaching staff from Amherstburg including Mark Picard, said their season didn’t start particularly well during the May 6 weekend. However, their season has improved since then and they climbed to third place in their ten-team Canadian Premier Baseball League (CPBL) standings.

Simone said many junior national players and all-stars get their start in the CPBL.

Winney said players had to try out for the U15 Selects team and he was able to make it.

“It felt really good (to make the team),” he said.

Winney stated he plays shortstop, pitcher and in the outfield. He believes the strength of his game is his hitting.

Windsor won both of Saturday’s game with Winney hitting three home runs, driving home five and was the winning pitcher in the second game.

“I hope to play a bit of ball in college and see where that takes me,” Winney said of his future goals. He added he has been playing baseball for approximately nine years, staring in Amherstburg.

Simone said the U15 division is developmental and the first two months of the season is to get everyone some playing time, solidify what positions and roles they will have as “you have to try and project down the road.”

The Windsor Selects U15 team will play in tournaments starting in July and that includes a prestigious U15 national tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. They use the Libro Centre for some of their games and practices as the usually practice about once or twice per week.

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