It was 20 years ago when a softball team, considered by experts to be a rag-tag bunch of Nova Scotians with little hope of improving on its 1977 performance, surprised the nation by winning seven straight games at the 1981 Canada Games and winning the gold medal in a 3-1 final against heavily-favored Ontario. Who were these guys that were picked to finish fifth, that coaches Ron Clarke and Jim Hoffman molded into a winning unit, who won five games in their round-robin section and managed to upset Saskatchewan 1-0 in the semi-final?

Clarke played for the 1969 softball team that finished fifth at the initial Summer Games in Halifax. He knew he needed strong pitching. And he knew togetherness is more important than individuals. That’s what he assembled. In a pre-Games interview with the Chronicle-Herald’s Steve Zinck, Clarke said the team could win a gold or silver medal but felt bronze was realistic. On Monday August 10 in Thunder Bay, Ont., Nova Scotia opened with a 3-2 win over New Brunswick, recovering from a pair of unearned runs in the first inning as Walter Fanning threw a two-hitter and Craig Cavicchi scored two runs after connecting for a single and double. Doug Cormier’s double in the third plated the eventual winner. The next day, Darrell Hadley’s sacrifice fly drove home Dave Fraser to end a 20-inning 1-0 marathon with B.C. Wednesday, the Nova Scotians went to 4-0 with two wins decided in the final inning. Darren Harrison threw a 2-0 one hitter at Manitoba, capped by Jim Fitzpatrick’s two run single. A few hours later, four runs in the 7th inning overcame a 3-2 deficit and beat Newfoundland 6-3. Harrison won in relief, his third straight win. Thursday, Fanning continued the magic, tossing a no- hitter at Alberta and scored the game’s only run when he walked and scored on Danny Ryan’s double. Friday, Harrison pitched a three-hit 1-0 win for his fourth win as Nova Scotia bested Saskatchewan in a semi-final. Cavicchi scored the only run in the 3rd on Cormier’s RBI single. Pitching, solid defence and timely hitting was the story in the final, as it had been throughout the week. Ontario could not catch up with Fanning, as the Nova Scotian tossed a two-hitter for a 3-1 win and his third victory of the tourney. For the third time in the tourney, Cormier knocked in the winning run, this time breaking a 1-1 tie with a 6th inning double that drove home pinch runner Paul Blackmore (Hadley singled but was injured sliding when he stole second). It was a team representing every corner of Nova Scotia, a team that hoped to better a 1977 fifth with bronze. They ended up with gold.

Members of the team were: Scott Billard, Paul Blackmore, John Butts, Craig Cavicchi, Ron Clarke (coach), Wayne Clyke, Doug Cormier, Walter Fanning, Jim Fitzpatrick, Dave Fraser, Jack Gray (general manager), Darrell Hadley, Darren Harrison, Mike Hart, Jim Hoffman (assistant coach, manager), Paul Long, Harold Lowe, Greg Patton, Danny Ryan, Carl Smith, Jeff Whitman.