NORTH Shore athletes nailed some great results at the Pan American Games held Oct. 14-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico with baseball pitcher Scott Richmond leading the way with an extended save in Canada's historic gold medal win over the United States.
Richmond replaced starter Andrew Albers with runners on first and third and two out in the sixth inning with Canada holding on to a 2-1 lead over the United States in the tournament final. He induced a fly ball to end the threat and then shut down the Yanks the rest of the way, striking out the final batter to clinch the first major international gold medal the Canadian baseball team has ever won at the senior level.
Those final innings were full of excitement and tension, said Richmond.
"Nobody was talking to me," Richmond told Postmedia News after the game. "I had never had a save before, and I just got into a groove. Once you get ahead and you show them you're throwing strike one, strike two - and Andrew Albers had been doing that all night - it made it easy for me. I just had to locate."
Richmond, 32, spent many of his younger days in North Vancouver - he even worked as a barnacle scraper for Seaspan after finishing high school - before eventually catching on with the Toronto Blue Jays after a nomadic baseball career. He was slated to pitch for team Canada at the 2008 Olympic Games but instead was called up to the Jays to make his Major League debut just days before the Olympics began. The Pan Am gold tops it all, said Richmond.
"For me it has to be the biggest thing. It beats my (MLB) debut because of what it means for Canadian baseball."
Richmond still pitches in the Toronto system. He spent most of the 2011 season in the minors while trying to regain his form after a shoulder injury. Following the Pan Am final, team Canada manager Ernie Whitt praised his pitchers for the win.
"Andrew Albers and Scotty Richmond came through for us tonight and my gosh, it's just a dream come true," said Whitt, a former Major League catcher. "I'm a U.S. citizen but I feel like I'm a Canadian at heart. I couldn't be more proud of these kids and more proud to have Canada written across my chest."
Two more North Shore athletes came home from Mexico with medals. West Vancouver swimmer Brenna MacLean scored silver in the women's 4x100-m medley relay while also finishing sixth in the 200-m butterfly.
North Vancouver's Jesse Watson helped the Canadian men's field hockey team to a silver medal finish, losing 3-1 in a tough championship game against Argentina. With a gold medal win
the team would have earned an automatic bid into the 2012 Olympics but now they'll have to go through qualification tournaments next year.
Three more North Shore athletes finished one step off the podium in Mexico, earning the bittersweet fourth-place position.
North Van teen Hannah Haughn, a Grade 12 student at Handsworth secondary, suited up for the women's field hockey team, helping them to a fourth place finish, while West Vancouver sailboarder Nikola Girke, a veteran of the 2008 Olympics, also placed fourth.
In gymnastics North Vancouver's Scott Morgan, a member of the Flicka club, had a strong showing at the games in making it to the finals in two apparatuses. Morgan earned a fourth-place finish in floor exercise and a fifth in vault while also helping Canada to fifth in the team competition.
West Vancouver's Rory Biskupski made a quartet of finals in the pool, swimming to fifth in 50-m freestyle, sixth in 4x200-m freestyle relay, seventh in 4x100-m freestyle relay and eighth in 4x100-m medley relay.
West Vancouver's Zac Plavsic, another Olympic veteran, finished fifth in men's sailboarding. North Vancouver rower Eric Bevan finished sixth in men's double sculls while North Van's Graeme Clendenan helped the Canadian sailing team finish seventh in the J/24 class.
Kevin Howard, a coach at North Vancouver's Griffins Boxing, acted as head coach for the Canadian team at the Pan Am Games. The Canadian boxing contingent placed third overall behind Cuba and Mexico with Mandy Bujold (51 kg) and Mary Spencer (75 kg) winning gold medals and Sandra Bizier (60 kg) winning bronze. This was the first Pan American Games to include female boxers.
