Fitzpatrick: Mississauga North Tigers assembling best team for "Road to Okotoks"
Mississauga North Tigers RHP/INF Ramsey Chung (Mississauga, Ont.) will be looking to help his team qualify for the Road to Okotoks tournament in July. Photo: Mississauga North Tigers
April 28, 2025
By Trevor Fitzpatrick
Canadian Baseball Network
As the all-new Road to Okotoks tournament approaches, the Mississauga North Tigers are ready to defend their home field as one of the regional qualifier host teams.
While some teams may only send one age group plus one or two players from the announced draft, the Tigers are planning to play multiple of their age groups to fill out their roster. (There will be a one round national draft for the 16 teams qualifying for Okotoks. All 16 can select one player.)
“We’re going to send our best players from the program, not just one team,” explained Sean Travers, the Tigers’ director of player development. “Unless there’s some unforeseen situations, I don’t see us partaking in the draft because we want this to be a Tigers only thing.”
The program is looking to build on what was an impressive 2025 season. Their 15U team won the Mississauga North Baseball Association tournament, and the 18U team took home silver at the Baseball Canada National Championships.
Meanwhile in the states, the 16U and 17U squads put up great runs at the Five Tool Texas Houston Classic, posting 3-1 and 4-0-1 records respectively.
With the Road to Okotoks upcoming, the Tigers are looking at it as an exciting chance to compete against the very best that Canada has to offer, who they don’t normally get to play against.
“You can’t hide the fact that there’s a better league than the one we play in,” Travers said. “The CPBL is the superior league (compared to the OBA), at least at the top end, than we’ve played in in the past. When you get a chance to compete against the guys that are known as the superior league, that has to be exciting if you’re a competitor.”
He continued, “If you make it to the next round, you get to compete against teams from different provinces. As soon as I heard about it, I was extremely excited. It will pull all the talent together. You can talk all you want to talk, but results on the field are the results on the field.”
Headliners of the Tigers roster include Midland Community College shortstop commit Joey Khananisho (Kleinburg, Ont.), Kansas State pitcher commit Max Nantais-Vlahovich (Mississauga, Ont.), and Northeast Texas Community College middle-infield commit Jacob Berney (Mississauga, Ont.).
One of Travers’ personal favourite players though is middle-infielder and pitcher Ramsey Chung (Mississauga, Ont.). The Canadian Futures Showcase alumni is expected to be a cornerstone for the Tigers during the Road to Okotoks.
“When you put everything he does together, he’s an ace on the mound and then a very good shortstop,” said Travers.
“I don’t think there’s anybody else in the country that can offer what Ramsey does. He’s a little unsung, he hasn’t gotten a chance on Team Canada, but I hopefully say ‘yet’ to that. I think he’s looking at this tournament as a time to go out there and prove that he should be on that team.”
The Road to Okotoks regional qualifiers are set to run from May 28-31, with the championship planned for July 14-19.
“I’m very thankful to Greg Hamilton of Baseball Canada and that he recognized us as a program that should host an event. We’re super excited to compete. There’s something out there to win, we’re not just going to play in front of scouts, this is a chance for these guys to learn how to win and learn how to be a team.”
Other Road to Okotoks Articles:
Wilson: WCBL to showcase teams to young talent during Road to Okotoks — Canadian Baseball Network
Sweeney: Atlantic provinces prep for Road to Okotoks — Canadian Baseball Network