November 29, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Trey Mackwood first saw the news on his mom Deana’s phone in 2019.

Or rather the lack of news.

The Okotoks Dawgs had told players at the bantam tryouts that year the names of the players who made the 15U team would be posted on the team’s website on a Friday night. Mackwood checked for updates hourly.

And when he finally saw the roster -- nary a Mackwood was on the list.

Years later he remembers the day ... he recalls feeling embarrassed and teary eyed.

“I knew I had more to give and after talking it over with my dad, I wasn’t going to let the opportunity to become a Dawg the following year pass me by,” Mackwood said this week.

The next year he made the Dawgs as an infielder -- in time for the COVID-shortened season. The day he found out he made the team was the day of his grandfather’s funeral. Leonard Gumpinger, who passed at age 75, was “a close relative who meant a lot to me and my journey.”

His arm played better than his bat and now he is a freshman with the Panola College Ponies in Carthage, Tex.

And Mackwood, for his never-give-up attitude, his stick-to-it-ness and his Dawg-like work ethic, is the winner of the annual 2024 Canadian Baseball Network $500 scholarship.

* * *

Mackwood and his family live in southeast Calgary, barely a 20-minute drive from John Ircandia’s sprawling Dawgs’ complex which includes Seaman Stadium for the summer college team, the Duvernay Fieldhouse, where Dawgs teams work out year-round, the Ircandia Outdoor Training Centre, Tourmaline Field and Conrad Field.

As a young ‘un, he played for the Fish Creek Little League all-star team at age 11 and 12.

“I saw the older guys going to play for the Okotoks Dawgs and I thought ‘Wow, that’s something I want to do when I am older,’” said Mackwood.

He tried out for the bantam and was cut by coach Val Helldobler. He admits it was a “tough one.” He was no longer a 20-minute drive from his destination.

Rather than slamming down the laptop, breaking a bat or quitting, he played double-A for the Calgary Cardinals and coach Chris Pushie.

* * *

In 2020, he tried out for the Dawgs and made a Dawgs Bantam Red team coached by Tyler Milton and Lou Pote.

“It was a great season. We played with some younger guys during COVID. We played against the peewee players,” said our winner.

* * *

In 2021, playing for the Dawgs midget 16U White squad for coaches Kirland White and Kurtis Taylor, they won the provincials in Spruce Grove.

The Dawgs beat the Calgary Bucks 5-4 in extras ... scoring in the top of the eighth. Brendan Gaboury hit a two-run triple to tie the game in the sixth. Rowan Robinson (Calgary, Alta.) drove in Ryley Doig (Olds, Alta.) in the top of the eighth for the lead. Robinson is with Chandler-Gilbert, while Doig headed to Big Bend.

In the bottom half the Dawgs recorded two quick outs, then allowed a base runner with the game ending as SS Gabe Simon (Red Deer, Alta.) snared a line drive. He is at Williston State Tetons.

Gaboury was presented the championship game MVP trophy.

* * *

Next in 2022 he played middle infield for the 16U Okotoks Dawgs Red and coach Bretton Gouthro.

Mackwood’s arm strength played well, usually at second base.

* * *

In 2023 he played for the Okotoks Dawgs Black team for coaches Tyler Hollick and Jeff Duda.

“I had a good fall and I was a two-way player so I only had to go to some of coach Duda’s 6 a.m. pitching sessions,” said Mackwood, whose mother Deana is a social worker, while his dad Doug works for a seafood company.

What did he learn from Duda, a former pro, who coached Cleveland Guardians prospect Matt Wilkinson (White Rock, BC)? “That you have to have the mentaility that you are ‘the baddest guy on the field, his knowledge is off the charts, to be a dawg on the mound.”

* * *

Previous Canadian Baseball Network Dawgs scholarship winners -- we can remember -- include: OF Mac Galvin (Calgary, Alta.), INF Ben Swennumson (Calgary, Alta.), 1B Calder Eagleton (Calgary, Alta.), INF Ricardo Sanchez (Okotoks, Alta.), OF Danny Donnelly (Okotoks, Alta.) and OF Tucker Zdunich (High River, Alta.).

Mackwood pitched for the Dawgs Black in 2024 and also worked six innings for the summer college Dawgs -- allowing two runs, while fanning eight. He throws the normal arsenal of a fastball, curve and changeup, plus he is working on a cutter.

His Dawgs highlight was being part of the team that knocked off the Langley Blaze 10-2 to win the Best of the West tournament. Mackwood pitched one inning against the BC Selects, striking out a pair.

* * *

The most influential coach in Mackwood’s career.

“Coach Val,” he answered.

The coach who cut you on your first attempt to make the Dawgs?

“He did lessons with me when I was 13,” Mackwood said. “He’s been there every step of the way and he was there when I was pitching for the college team.”

And he adds, “Lou Pote has been super influential.”

I could not resist and said, “Ah, he’s a pain in the rear.”

Replied Mackwood in a serious tone: “Sir, I know your story, I appreciate what you have done and what you are doing.”

(My story? On Feb. 2, 2019, I collapsed while giving a speech at the Okotoks banquet. The speedy Pote raced to grab the defibrillator from the front of the hall. Meanwhile, photographer Angela Burger (Calgary, Alta.) and trainer Savannah Blakley (Okotoks, Alta.) did CPR on me. They brought me back, I crashed and fireman Geoff Brown zapped me again.)

* * *

This fall with Panola, Mackwood pitched 14 innings, including one scoreless inning in a Panola sweep over the defending JUCO champs the Blinn Buccaneers.

The Ponies play at Jim Reeves Memorial Field named in memory of the late country singer, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967. He had classic hits like “I Guess I’m Crazy,” “Four Walls,” and “He’ll Have to Go” which were on charts until 1983. The youngest of nine children, Reeves died in a plane crash in 1964. Mackwood’s favourite country singer is Jon Pardi.

“Trey is the definition of being a Dawg,” said Tyler Milton, an Okotoks coach. “He never had an easy path to success, but continually outworked his peers each and every day.

“His success to date is a direct correlation to his ‘head down, let’s get to work’ mentality and will continue to flourish moving forward.”

INF Mitchell Heinrich (Vermilion, Alta.) is his roommate, while other Canucks on the roster include C Justin Anctil (Montreal, Que.) from the Academy Baseball Canada and C-INF Brock Grainger (Coboconk, Ont.) of the Toronto Mets.

“Trey is a kid who has done nothing but buy into our program,” said Life-Saving Lou Pote, “he has always been the first one here and last on to leave guy and everything that has come his way is because of his pursuit to get better every day.

“I’m extremely proud of him and he is exactly what epitomizes a Dawg.”