Lightfoot homers, has four hits to spark Team Royal to victory
Mississauga Tigers slugger Quinn Lightfoot (Caledon, Ont.) belted a 375-foot, three-run home run to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to put Team Royal up 6-1 over Team Navy at the Canadian Futures Showcase on Thursday. Photo: Braden Morrison (X: bradenmorr150n).
September 18, 2025
By Tomas Morgan
Centennial Sports Journalism
Quinn Lightfoot’s perfect day at the plate sparked a 6-1 win for Team Royal over Team Navy at the Canadian Futures Showcase at Rogers Centre on Thursday.
The Caledon, Ont., native’s 4-for-4 performance included a 375-foot, three-run home run, three singles, and two stolen bases. The Mississauga Tigers outfielder has had a stellar tournament thus far, using his speed on the bases for a total of four swipes, including stealing home against Team New Blue on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old also showcased a strong arm from the outfield.
“You know, it's really easy to get worked up being at the Rogers Centre,” said Lightfoot, in his player of the game interview. “Staying calm and collected, you know, that really helps my game.”
Lightfoot hit his first home run of the tournament with two strikes in his last at-bat of the game.
“That's a feeling that you can't even describe. You always dream about it, then when you actually do it, it's an amazing feeling,” said the Caledon, Ont. native.
Team Royal’s starting pitcher, Graham Thiessen (Stanley, Man.), was stellar in his three innings of work. Thiessen sat down all nine hitters he faced with seven punch outs, which included striking out the side in his first inning of work.
“I just wanted to get ahead and throw strikes early,” said Thiessen, 18, in a post-game interview. “This tournament has a lot of good hitters, so if you get behind, they can punish you. I was just trying to get ahead.”
The Vauxhall Baseball Academy righty pounded the strike zone -- 26 of his 33 pitches were strikes -- utilizing the 15 mph difference in his fastball and changeup to get batters swinging.
“I would have never imagined [seven strikeouts], but it was everything I could ever think about and dream of,” said Thiessen.
Thiessen’s mound performance triggered the offence in the second inning. Zach MacDonald (Lacombe, Alta) singled, scoring Connor Comeau (Austin, Texas) on a bang-bang play at home after a throw from Team Navy right fielder Theo Lima, to open the scoring, 1-0.
Team Royal did not look back as relief hauler Evan Wallace (Oakville, Ont.) pitched two innings, securing the hold on one strikeout and an earned run. Matthew McAdam (North Vancouver, B.C.) closed the game, throwing two innings to secure the save.
Team Navy starter Korbin Greaves (Ajax, Ont.) went three innings and permitted five hits, an earned run, while fanning five. Cooper Doan (St. Thomas, Ont.) had a walk and two strikeouts in his two innings. Tyson Dyck (Calgary, Alta.) mopped up with two innings. He walked four and allowed three earned runs while also striking out three batters.