Blair Penney reflects on senior A baseball finals

It had been half a dozen years since Blair Penney had worn a Gander Pilots jersey. 
The last time was in his teens and playing with the hometown team during a midget provincial tournament in Gander. 
After that, there was nothing. Sure, there were other jerseys to be worn but they were never the right colour blue. 
He preferred the sky blue of Pilots to the royal blue of the Raiders or the Barons. The 21-year-old yearned for the chance to wear the Pilot colours gain.
Penney thought it might have come last summer with the senior Pilots, but other commitments kept him from hitting the field. 
It got to the point when it seemed like it might never happen. 
That yearning was satisfied earlier this summer when Penney joined the Pilots for the town’s entry to the senior B provincial men’s baseball championship. 
“To be able to do that was something else,” said Penney. “It was my first senior experience and there were a lot of good guys on the team.” 
That group of good guys, a mixture of longtime and first time Pilots, got through the Corner Brook Barons and the Mount Pearl Blazers in order to play the senior A finals against the St. John’s Caps. 
Penney acquitted himself well in his first taste on the provincial level, playing a steady outfield and handling the bat well. 
When the team won, it marked the first in decades a squad with Gander on their chests had won anything on the provincial senior baseball level. 
“It was really important (to win),” said Penney. “It gave me an overwhelming sense of pride for Gander.” 
Attentions swiftly turned to the senior A final and the formidable St. John’s Caps. 
Penney got his first taste of the pinnacle of senior Newfoundland baseball in the top of the seventh inning in Game 1. Down 7-0, Penney pitch hit against arguably the top pitcher — the Caps’ Scott Goosney — in the province and clubbed a three-run double to get his team on the scoreboard. 
That seemed to galvanize the club and although they lost in six games, the Pilots clawed their way to two wins in the series. It was two more wins than a lot of people thought they could get. 
With his thirst to again wear a Gander Pilots jersey quenched, Penney is looking to tick another item off his list.
He wants to play another game in Gander. 
“It would be a true homefield advantage and we would get plenty of fans out,” he said. “That’s what I’m working towards.”