A Look Back at Alain Lachance’s Baseball Journey at the Amédée-Roy Stadium

The Sherbrooke baseball player spent time at the Amédée-Roy stadium. From a very young age, Alain Lachance ran on the trails of rue du Parc, now called rue du Cégep.

After the Sherbrooke Rapids in 1978, Alain Lachance played for the AA teams, where he met his eternal friends Pascal St-Pierre and Louis Lachance. Then: the Junior Athletics from 1988 to 1992, Team Quebec and even Team Canada.

“All the players on our team had the keys to the stadium! We could go there whenever we wanted. Things happened at the Amédée-Roy stadium. We did some stupid things, we brought our girlfriends and we experienced lots of emotions on the pitch: we lost, we won… It’s a lot of memories.

— Alain Lachance

And now, Alain Lachance will be able to see his number on the fence near that of Stéphane Waite (18), the only jersey retired in Sherbrooke until very recently.

“I think it’s a question of longevity in my case. I started playing here in the late 70s and I played until I was 48. My last season was in 2019. Then there was COVID and injuries. I was getting older too. But I will always have good memories of my time with the Expos, in particular. One of my best is probably the day my son Deiten hit a home run in a CBA uniform against the Expos. I went to the sidelines to congratulate him even though I was for the Expos. It was Father’s Day by the way.”

Otherwise, his presence at the Worlds is also unforgettable.

“It was in 1989 and chance had it happen that year… in Trois-Rivières. It could have been anywhere else in the world. We finished 5th, if I remember correctly. Afterwards, I played senior in Sherbrooke and then went to Coaticook with the Cardinals and came back to Sherbrooke to coach the Indians and finally returned to Coaticook for five years. Until the Expos were born in 2005, the year Deiten was born. I put the kids to bed, arrived 15 minutes before the game, warmed up in the batting cage and then played the game and left the stadium ten minutes after the game.”

Like him, Deiten learned to walk on the field by becoming the “bat boy” of the Expos, he who today plays for Mclennan Community College in Texas in division 1 within the National Junior College Athletic Association, hoping to reach the NCAA.

“He just got back from Wisconsin and I’m glad he’s here for this event on Thursday, as are my family, my friends and my former teammates for that matter.”

— Alain Lachance

For the occasion, the Expos defeated Big Bill of Coaticook by a score of 6 to 5.

Dauris Lopez Rodriguez will also have to find a new number, as he was wearing number 48.

The Victoriaville Cactus (10-1) will be the Expos’ next opponent on the road Sunday at 1 p.m. and the Thetford Unicanvas (4-8) will host Sherbrooke Sunday at 6 p.m.

The next match at the Amédée-Roy stadium will take place on July 6 at 2 p.m. against the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Pirates.

2024-06-29 08:17:25
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