Older and wiser, Sheldon MacDonald finds new way to win
Sheldon MacDonald, of Judique, is giving the Sydney Sooners another shot at a Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League title as one of the league’s top pitchers.
-by Bill Dunphy
Sheldon MacDonald has been a baseball pitcher for 30 years now, and like most of us in life, he wishes he knew at 11 what he knows now.
At 41, MacDonald is once again in position to win another Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League championship with the Sydney Sooners.
The Sooners wrapped up their best-of-five semifinal series with the Halifax Pelham Molson Canadians last week with a 9-4 win in game five at the Susan MacEachern Memorial field in Sydney.
MacDonald pitched the opening game of the series, a 6-2 win in 10 innings. He took the mound again in game three with the series tied 1-1 and tossed a three-hit 3-0 win, striking out seven.
The Sooners now face the powerful Dartmouth Moosehead Dry in the best-of-seven league final. Dartmouth was 31-1 in league play this season and swept the Kentville Wildcats 3-0 in the other semifinal series.
MacDonald had a little soreness in his shoulder when contacted at home in Judique on Monday, but was eagerly awaiting the release of the playoff schedule.
“I’m surviving – it’s hard to believe we’re getting another shot at it,” he said.
Leading up to the league playoffs, the Sooners represented Nova Scotia at the national championship in Victoria, B.C., in August. Sydney were 1-3 in round-robin play and missed the playoffs.
And prior to that, MacDonald teamed up with Darson Murphy, Guy Pellerine, the Lockhart brothers from Kentville and several other top players from Nova Scotia to play in the over-35 nationals in Charlottetown. Calling themselves the Mariners, they defeated the Woodslee Orioles, of Ontario, 9-0 to capture the title. The Mariners took top honours in the national tournament on the strength of solid defence and pitching.
And when he’s not playing baseball, he’s coaching baseball. His son Reid, 9, plays on the Cape Breton West under-11 AA team in the provincial Bluenose League.
