Taberite Jeff Zanolli was able to take a page out of the Canadian Olympic hockey’s teams fairy tale book and apply it to his Canadian slo-pitch teammates during the Slo-Pitch Border Battle in Oklahoma City in late July.
Much like the Canadians were able to take home the hockey gold medal against the USA in thrilling fashion, so to was the slo-pitch Team Canada squad’s win over the United States in a nail-biting 30-29 victory.
“The finish was as exciting as you’re going to get. They had the tying run at third base with nobody out and they couldn’t score. It was pretty awesome,” said Zanolli. “They were out of home runs so they hit two home runs for outs, so we didn’t have to play any defence. Then we got a groundball to end it.”
With huge athletes right down the lineup, including USA’s 6-foot-6, all-muscle 275-pound masher Rusty Bumgardner, each squad has to maximize its 10-allotted home runs each with runners on base, before they counted as outs.
“We ran out of home runs ourselves in the fifth inning and got two outs ourselves. But we built a big lead by that point so it didn’t hurt us as much,” said Zanolli. “They could have used theirs in the seventh inning.”
Team Canada jumped all over Team USA with 11 runs in the top of the first inning, which resonated a good vibe for a team that suffered a 30-23 loss the year before to the U.S., in which the competitors from south of the border rallied.
“It was important for us. That really set the tone for the whole game. it was close throughout where they had the lead once,” said Zanolli. “We were in the lead for most of the day, but it was never comfortable.”
Zanolli was able to hit the field for Team Canada in the fourth inning and played middle infield.
“The experience was unbelievable. The intensity was everywhere,” said Zanolli. “I didn’t get a chance to make a play on defence with nothing hit near me, which was a little disappointing. It is so fast, I can’t put it into words how hard they hit it. It is by you before you even have a chance to move for it. It comes off the bat at 100 miles per hour and you’re 85 feet away — it’s unreal.”
Zanolli was 2-for-3 at the plate in which the Taberite easily could have been 3-for-3 if not for some fancy glove work by the U.S.
“I got one taken away from me by the best player in the world in Brian Wegman, who is their middle infielder. It was probably the play of the game,” said Zanolli.
Team Canada’s warm-up games to the Border Battle proved just as fruitful as the team went 3-0. Zanolli did not play in the first game, but started the second and third in exhibition play.
Team Canada beat Oklahoma State All-Star Plumbing twice, starting off with a 40-35 win on Thursday and then thumping them 27-6. Team Canada also beat the Fence Brokers, a pro team from Arkansas, 28-7.
“I don’t know if they played poorly or we played really well, but we thumped them. We played a real solid game from start to finish,” said Zanolli. “Overall,  It was the most amazing sporting moment of my life.  It tops anything that I have accomplished up to this point.  The feeling of pride and the excitement that we felt as a group is indescribable.”