*This article originally appeared on the Whitby This Week website on September 11, 2019. You can view the original article here.

By Brian McNair

Whitby This Week

WHITBY — Greg LaChance sure didn’t buckle under the pressure of playing at a national championship, despite having the eyes of Mitch Marner fixed on him more than anyone else.

There are a number of reasons for that, including the fact he has grown accustomed to having the Toronto Maple Leafs star hanging around, as the longtime boyfriend of his sister, Steph.

But the 15-year-old Anderson Collegiate student is focused no matter who is watching, says coach Clare Osborne, and was a key reason why the Whitby Chiefs bantam elite team produced a dramatic victory at the Ray Carter Cup national championship in Oshawa this summer.

“He wants to win, and he finds a way,” said Osborne, who has coached him in Whitby the past two years. “He’s a real gamer. He’s always at the top of the order, steals bases, gets on base, has power, can bunt the ball, super defensively.”

LaChance was front and centre in the Whitby team’s championship win in Oshawa — he batted .333 over the six games, shared the team lead with five runs scored, and was named the gold glove winner as the top defensive player after fielding 24 balls flawlessly at second base and being part of two double plays.

In the gold medal game, with Ontario trailing British Columbia 4-3 in the bottom of the final inning, he tied the game with a two-out RBI single and was soon after celebrating when Matt Isaacson singled home the winning run.

“It was amazing,” he recalled of the dramatic finish before many friends and family at Kinsmen Stadium. “I knew a lot of people were watching the games, so I really had to perform, but we all performed. It was awesome.”

It was part of a dream season for the Chiefs, who also won the elimination tournament in Mississauga to grab the Ontario berth at nationals, and later completed the ‘triple crown’ by claiming the Ontario Baseball Association championship. As an added bonus, the team also appeared in the blockbuster movie, IT Chapter Two.

LaChance, who is also an excellent hockey player with Whitby’s minor midget AA team, started the ball season with some adversity, having to switch from shortstop to second base after Whitby added Zachary Kourous from North York.

After a bit of a transition period, the two infielders were soon thriving together, and the team soared, particularly after winning a June tournament in Vaughan.

As for the team’s most recognizable fan, Marner drew plenty of attention by attending several of the games at the national championship in Oshawa. The couple first met when Marner attended Pringle Creek Public School briefly as a young boy and reconnected when he was playing junior hockey for the London Knights and she was attending Western University.

“I didn’t really think about it that much, because I’ve known him for a pretty long time,” LaChance said of Marner’s attendance. “It was just nice having him there.”

LaChance plans to hang up the hockey skates after this season and focus completely on baseball. He will play next summer with the Toronto Mets program and hopes ultimately to land a Division 1 scholarship to the United States.