year, “coming: across’: the plate: con-* Wednesday, July 27, 1988 4 From Sidney Little League to the Canadian junior national because of the lack of scouts -mid-terms and becoming ineligi- 4 the major leagues — it’s every team in Kindersley, Sask., in and a future in baseball — ble to play the spring season : young ball player’s dream, says Steve Hodges. By GLENN WERKMAN Review Staff Writer A. chance for the dream to come true is real for the right- hander. He’s been playing baseball all his life and is now faced with the biggest challenge of his life — to make it through a tryout camp next week so he can pitch for Canada in the 1988 Summer Olympics in’ Seoul, South Korea. Hodges caught the baseball bug while pitching in Sidney Little League as a boy. He ad- vanced quickly and went to Oak Bay when he was 13; to be coached by Walt Burrows and his dad Lowell. He played at Carnarvon Park for three years, then moved up to pitch in a senior mens’. pitcherrole. - baseball league in Victoria. During the 1984/85 amd REAR DRUM Now he’s 22 and has played 85/86 seasons he piayed 9 baseball on scholarships at ‘American colleges in. Idaho, Arizona and Hawaii. Last year in Havana. he got his first. taste. of. international baseball — pitching to Cuban, Mexican and Japanese batters during the International Cup in October. These days Hodges is concen- trating on making the Canadian - National team,. which plans to— tour Europe before competing ~ in the Olympic *demonstration ’ sport event in September. His talent helped the Budget Rent.a Car team to a Vancouver Island Senior Amatuer. Baseball League championship over the. weekend, where Hodges.pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out - eight batters in the fourth -game of a five-game final season... ~. In Grand. Canyon. College. down -in: Phoenix, » “Ariz:, last. ‘Hodges’ fastballs ‘were. -sistently. at: 88 and 89 mph. But : he says he’s not a power pitcher. " His. best pitches area slider (a. ‘hard. curve | ball) and..a--split™ finger (a: fastball that dips at the “ end). The International: Cup gave “him-a healthy respect ‘for the Cuban team: ‘‘They’re-the best in the world as far as amateur baseball goes,’’ Hodges says. “You have to think about when you want to throw a strike to those guys,’’ he says. “You. hang a curve and they’ re sure to take advantage of it.’ __ He pitched three games to the ‘Cubans and came in‘as a'relief ° pitcher ‘for: the Canadian -team against Mexico and Japan. “Canada doesn’t win too many world. tournaments,” but we're always. up there in the top five.’’ Last spring, prior 10 the Pan’ Am Games, Hodges was one of. the Jast cuts from the national team. His first national-level ex- perience was pitching in. the junior national championships in Surrey in. 1983, when the Vie- _ toria team won the junior cham: pionship. 1984. During a discussion in his Ardmore Drive home, Hodges | is candid about his chances to. make the team. ‘They know I can throw,” he said. About 14 pitchers out of 35 players have been invited to the tryout. camp, which starts July 29 at the University of - Waterloo in Kitchener, Ont. Hodges expects. the final roster to have about eight pit- chers among 22 players. “AN I care about is that I’m one of them.’ Previous experience with the national. team will help, but competition is tight for pitchers. “It can depend on so many things,’’ Hodges says. The general manager expects Hodges to fit the right hand long relief role, as opposed to a starting pitcher. or short relief baseball on a scholarship at - Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, coming home in the summer to play: in. the Vancouver Island league. _ The first year he was a short- stop. on the junior. varsity squad, the second year he made the varsity team, again as a shortstop. ‘‘I always enjoyed _ pitching, but wanted to give in- field and batting a shot.”’ In the second: year plans changed. ‘‘I got tired of Idaho, ‘although the baseball program - I. wanted to get-on. - with pitching and wanted a _ was great. transfer.’’ ‘During. the summer ‘of 1986 he worked in.a lumber yard near Edmonton and played. ‘baseball: - for the. Edmonton ‘Angels... He. was picked up by .a:Red. Deer, * Alta., team ~ for: the. national’ Moncton, =? cN.B:, where. his: team came. in’ ; championships» in “second. Shortly. after " -monton “he. got. ‘a..-call. from . Hawaii Pacific College’ offering: . “hima Scholarship. Hodges ° ac- - cepted. . “YP ve. een: very: stayed: -in: 1986/87.. season, baseball and working as.a short order .cook to pay the rent.and - Stayin school. , - Not content with Hawaii — tuining. to Ed- : ; “forunate . with baseball,’’ he ‘says.’ He - “Hawaii ~ for. the: playing THE REVIEW 9781-2nd St., Sidney B.C. Hodges transferred again, this time to Grand Canyon College in Phoenix for the 1987/88 season. One month into school, where he was working on a teaching degree in physical education, Hodges got the call to go to Cuba. Despite missing “THE | BALL iso -READY. and the: “concentration is set as” os : right hander Steve Hodges shows off his pitching form. - f at the: Sidney: Little League. ball diamond, reminiscent - of days gone by. | “Diagnostic Testing, Councelling & Hearing - Aid Fittings . 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