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"A Family Tradition for 133 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 - 21 PORTS - -- Playing the field Scholarship to U.S. school a great beginning for Port Perry ball player By Heather McCrae Port Perry Star When Nick Skerratt was offered a baseball scholarship at a U.S. university last summer, he couldn't believe his good fortune. It isn't every day a promising young athlete gets the opportunity to have his education paid for and be able to pursue a sport he loves as well. But that's what's happened to the 19-year old Port Perry ball player. : Last August Skerratt was offered a partial scholarship at Treasure Valley College in Oregon. He's currently enrolled in a two-year General Studies program. The outfielder played 40 games in Oregon and Idaho up until Nov. 14. Next month Skerratt will be going on tour throughout California, where the team plays 20 exhibition games before returning home to practice for league play. During this stint away from classes it's the players' responsibility to keep up with their studies. ~ "Whenever we have some spare time, we grab a book on the bus," said Skerratt. : After school is over this June, Skerratt will continue to play with the all-star Meadowlarks, based out of Oregon. While on tour the team will play at ballparks in British Columbia and along the western U.S. coast. Then it's back to Port Perry for a month's visit before returning to Pleasure Valley for another year of baseball and studies. Baseball has been a large part of Skerratt's life since he was 10, when he began playing softball in Port Perry. The first rep team he played on was the MoJack softball team. When Skerratt was 14 he signed up with the Uxbridge Midgets. "They had hardball, something Port Perry didn't have back then," he said. In his second and final year, under the coaching of Don and Beth Blowe, the Uxbridge team won the All Ontario Championship in Port Hope. After obtaining a release in 1995 from Uxbridge, Skerratt played for the Oshawa Legionnaires Midgets and the All- Star Eastern Ontario Baseball Association. In the fall of 1997 the Connorvale Blue Jays team scooped Skerratt up. "This was a try-out period to see if I'd make the team", he said. He made it, and indoor training began last February in Toronto. Starting last spring, while he attended Port Perry High School, and continuing on through the summer, %, : LN at a U.S. college, thanks to. a scholarship that allows him to play and study in Oregon. He's a product of the local softball and baseball organizations. Port Perry's Nick Skerratt is swinging for the fences ModJacks not out of playoff hunt just yet By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star Anyone who thought the Port Perry ModJdacks were dead had better think again. The ModJacks are very much alive after breaking off a five-game winless skid with a pair of crucial road wins, starting last Tuesday night in Lakefield and ending Friday in Bobcaygeon. The four points vaulted the ModJacks right back into the hunt for a playoff berth in the Central Junior C Hockey League. With 28 points, they hold down fifth place and trail Georgina by two, and Little Britain by four. Just the top four teams qualify for post-season action. Only a week ago, after losing on home ice to last place Bobcaygeon, MoJack fortunes were hanging by a thread. And while head coach Tom Thornbury is happy with the increased levels of drive and intensity displayed in the two wins, he knows that every game from here in is like a playoff game -- a must-win situ- ation. Against the second place Lakefield Chiefs Tuesday, Adam Bonneveld con- tinued to provide the scoring spark as he gave MoJacks a 2-0 first period lead. The teams traded goals in the middle frame, with Justin Squires doing the damage for the ModJacks. The Chiefs were far from dead, how- ever, and cut the margin to 3-2 before Mike Clark gave Port Perry some insur- ance at the 15-minute mark with assists from Adam Metheral and Mike Heasman. Chiefs' final goal came on the power play with under four minutes left, but Modacks were able to batten down the hatches and weather the storm the rest of the way. Please turn to page 23 Please turn to page 23 Things looking up for our Leafs Large... Port Perry's Todd Healey takes a look at today's world of sports Though they aren't fitting the team for Stanley Cup rings just yet, the Leafs and their long-suffering fans have every reason to feel good about their playoff chances come April when the dancing begins in earnest. For an organization that could do nothing right for the better part of the last 30 years, on or off the ice, a startling metamorphosis has occurred this past season and players and fans alike cannot be faulted for the euphoria that now surrounds the team. Where once Medusa turned every deal to stone, Midas has replaced the hag with his golden touch. Bold moves to secure Curtis Joseph and Alexander Karpotsev have been handsomely rewarded, as both have been key additions, and the signing of free-agent Steve Thomas is shaping up to be the steal of the year. But perhaps the best move of all has been the addition of coach Pat Quinn, who displays the type of confidence and patience with his young charges that was so sorely lacking in the previous regimes. Ironically, it is Quinn who has warned, throughout the season, that this Leaf team has many strides to make if they hope to be a serious contender come playoff time on the surface, his words of caution come off sounding more like a coach trying to keep his team on an even emotional keel than an actual display of concern. But, delve into the statistics and Quinn's words are given credence and should be heeded. True, the Leafs are a dazzling eight games above .500, lead the league in offence, and stand atop their division in points. But now for the bad news. Despite their lofty goal totals, the Leafs rank nearly dead last in power-play goals and goals against average, laying waste to the popular myth that the best defence is a good offence. Of even greater concern is their play against teams in their own conference. The Leafs are a very pedestrian 9-13-1 against eastern conference rivals and this without having played either New Jersey or Ottawa, two teams that under no circumstances can be sloughed off as weak sisters. Add to the mix the fact that Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Washington have owned the Leafs this season and other than soundly thumping Boston last Saturday, have had little success against the Bruins the last few years. So, given the Leaf's lack of success against the eastern conference, they may find their remaining schedule rather sobering. Of their final 42 games, 33 of them are against eastern rivals, and 24 of their last 42 games are played on the road where the Leafs sport an even 8-8 record. If the statistics play out the remainder of the season the way they have up to this point, the Leafs will end the season at or very near a .500 winning percentage. To the average fan who has watched his beloved Leafs flounder well below the high water mark for several years, .500 would seem to be cause for cele- bration. But not so fast. If the season were ta end today, the final playoff spot in the east would be awarded to Boston, a team five full games clear of 500. In other words, if Toronto does not play better than it has up to this point, they will not make the playoffs. A cruel world to be sure, but so is the eastern conference where teams like the Leafs, possessing small scores who are intimidated by the trap and physical play, go to die. Though moving in the right direction, the Leafs will quite likely be on the outside looking in when the playoffs begin in the spring. But don't take my word for it. Take Quinn's. I Ld Ry TT