August 1, 2021

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

It wasn’t your typical brother and sister summer vacation.

In the end, it all worked out for the best.

As soon as Len and Julie Woods heard Ontario was headed into another lockdown in early April, they flew their daughter Emily Woods, 19, who had completed her first year at York University, and younger brother Jordan Woods to Florida.

After all, a young man has to pitch.

So lefty Jordan Woods (Oakville, Ont.) of the Ontario Terriers and sister Emily embarked on their own two-person vacation. They did experience some problems. Emily is studying for an honours BA but few professors prepared her for the course structure. Emily was too young to rent a car in Florida and too young to check into most hotels for that matter.

They became experts at booking into pop Len’s Airbnb account. They had their credit card compromised. One night the owner of the Airbnb they were at failed to pay his hydro bill, so they had to leave and find another place at 10 p.m.

They cranked up the Google machine and searched for “Airbnb ... with hydro.”

On the 95-day trip south of the border, Emily drove roughly 20,000 K and should win Big Sister of 2021. And maybe in 2022 too -- when brother goes off to East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tenn.

* * *

A look at Emily and Jordan’s excellent adventure ...

The siblings flew into Tampa, took an Uber to Lakeland to stay at a hotel near the Lakeland aiport. Randy Sullivan’s Florida Baseball ARMory, formerly the Baseball Ranch, was within walking distance.

Why Lakeland? Well, Len had seen a documentary on Netflix about a Yankee pitcher from Taiwan who went there and decided to give them a call when the latest lockdown was announced. It was a last minute decision. The place does strictly training with some live hitters.

Len shipped his 2012 Yukon Denali vehicle to his children, but there was a delay in the arrival of the card. The bad news about airport hotels are there are planes landing and taking off all the time. What’s that you’re saying that Lakeland is not Miami International?

Well you’re right ... except it can get noisy when the SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo, an annual week-long fly-in and airshow, takes place at Lakeland Linder International Airport. When air show fans came to town -- and without the vehicle, they had to ask for a longer stay. The hotel rate doubled from $100 to $200.

* * *

They were vaccinated in Florida and were actually paid $10 to get a shot from Target. US? You bet.

Once they had their trusty 2012 Yukon Denali they moved into a condo at Champions Gate 38 minutes away in Davenport, Fla. They were there six weeks.

* * *

Emily’s first long-distance drive was from Davenport to East Cobb, Ga. While Woods is not headed to East Tennessee State until the fall of 2022, his college coach, Joe Pennucci, was happy to set him up with a team based in Chattanooga Tenn. so he could pitch for eXposure 17u Prime.

First up was the 2021 Perfect Game 17U Southeast Memorial Day Classic at various parks in Atlanta, Ga. After booking through Airbnb they bunked down at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn. Emily made the two-hour commute to the Atlanta area.

Woods started for eXposure 17u Prime, allowing one base runner -- a base hit -- in a 21-0 romp over the Southeast Tar Heels. He struck out five in three scoreless innings. Woods worked consistently in the 83-86 mph range. He threw 39 pitches (64% for strikes).

He also had a scoreless innings for eXposure Prime in a 10-4 win over the 5 Star 17U White. The lefty allowed one hit and walked two, striking out a pair in a 30-pitch outing (50% strikes). Woods worked consistently in the 79-82 mph range, according to Perfect Game.

Woods was back to pitch in the tourney final, an 11-3 loss to Team Elite 17U Black. He was the first man out of the bullpen with his team down 5-2 and allowed four runs. Woods allowed four hits and two walks, striking out four in two innings as he threw 52 pitches (61% strikes). He sat consistently in the 82-84 mph speed limit.

For his outings Woods gained a spot on the PG 17U Southeast Memorial Day Classic All Tournament Team (0-0, three scoreless innings, five hits, four walks and six strikeouts).

By Matthew Welsh

Not lost in the win was another utterly dominant outing from East Tennessee commit Jordan Woods. Following a Thursday outing in the team’s first pool play game, where he was perfect through four innings, Woods was equally as impressive in the title game. He threw a six-inning complete game shutout with eight strikeouts and only one walk. Only four batters even reached base against the lefty, whose fastball touched 87.

“Usually I try to treat the games the same, just as any other game, and try to go out there and compete,” said Woods. “I always just try to get the win for the boys. It feels great, even though it felt a little rough coming in, but I’m glad I got it done. My defense definitely helped me out a lot here today.”

Pool J

Team PCT W-L-T RA RS

1. eXposure 17u Prime .833 2-0-1 9 18

2. 643 Dp Jaguars 17u Beasley .500 1-1-1 13 15

3. Burn Atlantic 2022 Navy .333 1-2-0 11 8

4. 5 Star 17U White .333 1-2-0 17 9

By Drew Wesolowski

Jordan Woods (2022, Oakville, Ont.) showed out for The North in his start on Monday. The native Canadian had great feel for his curve ball and would spin it often. The curve ball has sharp, late breaking, 1-7 action that would get swing and miss from hitters. The left-hander’s fastball was up living in the mid-80s and touched 87 mph. The East Tennessee State commits final line was six innings pitched, zero runs and eight strikeouts. Woods had a lot of success pounding the zone and will have success because of his breaker at the next level.

* * *

Next Emily made the two-hour commute to the TOP Chops East Cobb Complex and the Perfect Game 17U Southeast World Series in Marietta, Ga., home of former Ottawa-Nepean Canadians LHP Mike Arundel.

Woods earned the win for eXposure 17u Prime with four hitless, scoreless innings in a 9-1 win over 5 Star Mid-South. He threw 52 pitches (71%) strikes. The lefty fanned eight in four innings and was sitting at 84-88 mph.

eXposure Prime Firing On All Cylinders

By Matthew Welsh

Perfect Game

MARIETTA, Ga. -- eXposure Prime 17u is heating up this summer after winning their second game of the Southeast World Series on Friday morning by a convincing 9-1 final over Five Star Mid-South. That game tallies as their second straight 9-1 victory of the event and positions them as one of the potential top seeds entering Saturday’s final pool play game.

The win began on the mound for eXposure, with East Tennessee State commit Jordan Woods, who handcuffed Five Star’s offense from the first batter of the game. Woods worked a perfect game through four scoreless innings, before giving way to Cooper Casteel in the fifth.

Woods struck out eight of the 12 batters he faced, and only two batters were able to work counts longer than six pitches. Woods’ fastball touched 88 mph and juxtaposed a tight 74 mph breaking ball with depth. When asked of his performance, and his thoughts on the mound mid-perfect performance, the word dominant came to mind.

“Yeah I felt great,” said Woods. “I had an outing a couple weeks ago that didn’t go my way, so it felt good to get out there today and throw well. I kind of recognized [the perfect game] after the first few innings, but I try to block that out and attack right away.”

Still it’s not easy to exit a game when on a roll like the 6-foot-3 lefty was on Friday, but above all Woods has his team’s best interests in mind. He’s aware of his importance to the team and wants to maximize those returns however delayed they may be.

“You know, Coach kind of pulled me aside and told me that he wants me for Monday, so it was my job to just go with the flow and get ready to face some good competition on Monday,” Woods said.

Woods was given the ball to start the final and he pitched a six-innings complete game to beat Home Plate Chili Dogs 17U 8-0. He allowed three hits and one walk, striking out eight in six innings.

He threw 87 pitches (65% strikes). Woods worked consistently in the 83-87 mph.

Again he earned a spot on the all-tournament team after two starts (1-0, 10 scoreless innings, three hits, one walk, 16 strikeouts, 139 pitches).

Pool J

Teams PCT W-L-T RA RS

1. eXposure 17u Prime 1.000 3-0-0 2 27

2. 5 Star Mid-South 17U Hill .667 2-1-0 18 13

3. Atl Lightning 17u Nohstadt .333 1-2-0 21 12

4. Phenom Southeast .000 0-3-0 18 7

* * *

Then Emily drove to WWBA 2022 Grads/17U National championship at the TOP Chops in East Cobb, Ga.

Woods pitched 3 1/3 innings in a 6-3 loss to GS Surge Team Akadema Super Charged. Woods started and left with a 3-2 lead. He allowed two hits and five walks, while striking out six. Woods had his fastball clocked at 80-83 mph. He threw 83 pitches (50% strikes).

* * *

In all, Emily drove Jordan to Nashville to play at Vanderbilt University, University of Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Atlanta for five tournaments in the Atlanta area. American families were very nice to them taking them to dinner some nights.

The former Oakville A’s lefty made the the all-tournament team twice -- in the Perfect Game 17U Southeast Memorial Day Classic and the Perfect Game 17U Southeast World Series -- while winning for the Southeast World Series.

His best game was fanning eight of 12 hitters he faced against Five Star Mid-South.

During the summer he pitched 21 1/3 innings walking 10, hitting one batter and striking out 33. He finished first on the team in strikeouts and second in innings pitched.

Woods has been invited to the Junior National Team tryout camp at the Pan Am Field in Ajax.

* * *

Emily and Jordan returned in mid July a little wiser but as skinny as when Woods left. They had a delay at the border for proof of vaccination to be forwarded. That southern heat was the biggest adjustment which affected Jordan’s ability to grip the ball.

Mom Julie and pop, Len, a former Oakville A’s coach on Jeff Lamont’s bantam staff were extremely happy to have their children back, re-united with younger brother Trevvy.

With COVID, things seemed heightened when they were away. It was like they were out of our reach and there was nothing the parents could do about it. Maybe the parents did some growing up too.

* * *

And on Friday the Woods family was on the road again as Len drove his Ram 2500 towing a travel trailer to Ottawa.

Woods pitched five innings allowing two earned runs on four hits and two walks, while fanning 13 as manager Dean Dicenzo (Ancaster, Ont.) guided the Terriers to a 9-4 win over Watson Elite at Jasmine Park in Gloucester. Woods gained the win as he attempted to lift Dicenzo’s spirits, after his Chicago Cubs dealt everyone but the bat boy heading into the deadline.

Oh and Emily had the weekend off from driving.