August 2009

Written by OntFast Sunday, 02 August 2009 09:09

The Midget Canadian Fastpitch Championships start today in Brampton featuring 16 of the top teams from around Canada. All of the action will take place at the Fairgrounds on McMurchy Street, certainly one of the finest facilities in the province. The round robin games will go on all week with the championship rounds next weekend August 8-9.

To keep up with all of the action we have listed here the game schedule and a link to the website.

Written by OntFast Sunday, 02 August 2009 10:11

The Junior Canadian Fastpitch Championships start today in St. Catharines and continue all week with championship play next weekend. Games are played at beautiful Lancaster Park and is easily accessible to fans from the QEW Niagara. For your convenience to check out the game schedule for a personal visit or to keep up with the scores we have posted the game schedule and tournament website.

Written by OntFast Tuesday, 04 August 2009 05:42

Congratulations to the Brampton Blazers on their Gold Medal at the Bantam Canadian Championships held in Oakville this past week. The event wrapped up on Sunday with the Blazers defeating the Fraser Valley Fusion, from British Columbia, in the 10th inning of the final game with a 4-2 victory. Here are some photo shots from the tournament.

Written by OntFast Wednesday, 05 August 2009 05:46

Hoboken, (Belgium); 4th August 2009: BackSoftball Athlete Ambassador Gergana Handjiyska has reinforced the importance of softball in Europe following the conclusion of two major softball tournaments in Spain and Belgium that featured 21 European nations this past weekend.

The VIII European Women’s “A” Championship, which took place in Valencia, was won on Saturday by the Netherlands, who beat Great Britain for the title, with the Czech Republic coming in third. BackSoftball Athlete Ambassador Saskia Kosterink is a member of the Netherlands team.

The “B” Championship concluded in Hoboken on Sunday with hosts Belgium clinching first place with a victory against Sweden, with Croatia taking third place.

Ms. Handjiyska, whose Bulgaria team came in sixth place in the “B” Championship, said, “The recent tournaments in Belgium and Spain show how popular softball is in Europe right now. We have continued making significant progress in the last few years and the hundreds of softball players that have played in these championships all share the same aspirations – to maintain the principles of softball that are so close to the Olympic values that the International Olympic Committee seeks to promote – to encourage fair play, respect and maintain the highest standards of competition.

Written by OntFast Thursday, 06 August 2009 05:57

Written by OntFast Friday, 07 August 2009 05:14

This weekend we have the Tier 2 Provincial Championships with the Novice teams playing in Windsor, the Bantam teams in London and the Midget teams in Ancaster. With the vast majority of teams in the province playing Tier 2 this is a weekend of great interest to most softball fans. Find a park near you and watch some great ball, played with intensity and love of the game. The schedules are listed here.

Written by OntFast Monday, 10 August 2009 05:48

The Oakville Angels battled five games Saturday to win the USSSA 16U Class A World Series Championship in Plano Texas.  MVP honours went to Lauren McLaughlin who pitched every bracket game today with over 336 pitches.  Lauren also took home the top pitcher World team all star award.  Other honours and picks for the World All star team went to Kelly Hannivan, Kirsty Grant and Sam Patoff. 

World Series Champions to a Canadian team.  Great job to coach Ian Abbott and assistant Greg Cowan. 

The results can be viewed at www.usssa.com/sports/BracketPool.asp?Tournament=558296 or at www.eteamz.com/oakvilleangels-16U. 

A fantastic week for the Oakville Angels Midget 1 team.

Written by OntFast Monday, 10 August 2009 05:54

The Mississauge North Tigers won the Midget Tier 2 Provincial Championship on Sunday afternoon in Ancaster. The Tigers went undefeated for the championship playing great ball all weekend, while their opponent in the final, the Windsor Lady Expos took the long road to the game. Windsor lost their first game of the tournament then went on to win 6 straight to get to the final where the Tigers prevailed by a 10-3 score. The Palmerston Marlins 91 took the Bronze, also playing exceptional ball all weekend long.

Congratulations to all of the teams, we will certainly be well represented at the Eastern Canadians in Quebec.

Written by OntFast Monday, 10 August 2009 13:59

(Maracay, Venezuela) – The Canadian Senior Women’s National Softball Team captured the silver medal at the 2009 Women’s Pan Am Championship in Maracay, Venezuela as they were defeated 3-1 by the United States in the Championship Game. With a second place finish, Canada qualified for both the 2010 ISF Women’s World Championship in Oklahoma City, OK and the 2011 Pan American Games in Mexico.

The United States opened scoring in the second inning as Megan Langenfeld and Kaitlin Cochran both singled to start the inning and moved to second and third on an infield out. Langenfeld then scored on a sacrifice fly by Maggie Viefhaus. Canada got the run back in the top of the third when Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) belted a solo homerun to tie the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the inning, the Americans regained the lead as Tammy Williams singled and scored on a double to shallow right field by Megan Langenfeld putting the USA squad up 2-1.

USA scored its third run in the fourth inning as Vicky Galindo singled and later scored on a single by Tammy Williams. That would be all the insurance USA pitcher Monica Abbott would need as she limited Canada to only two hits over seven innings to earn the win. Abbott recorded eight strikeouts in the process. For Canada, Danielle Lawrie (Langley, BC) started the game in the pitcher’s circle and was relieved by Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) to start the fourth inning. Lawrie allowed two runs on four hits with one strikeout, while Caira allowed one run on two hits and struck out two.

Written by Jim Wallace Monday, 10 August 2009 14:08

By JIM WALLACE , THE ST. CATHARINES STANDARD

Despite a curve thrown by the weatherman midway through Sunday's semifinal game, the 2009 Canadian Junior Women's Fastpitch Championships were a success.

"It's been a great week," tournament chairman Marianne Allen said as Sunday afternoon's rain pounded on the officials trailer along the right-field line at Lancaster Park.

"The fans are fantastic, our local people are certainly supporting us and we're so proud for the city of St. Catharines."

Along with Sunday's rain, which put the tournament semifinal on hold and delayed the start of the championship final to late afternoon from its 1:30 p. m. scheduled start, the only downside was the absence of the host St. Catharines Thunder.

After posting a 4-2 record in the round-robin portion of the seven-team tournament, the Thunder lost their first playoff game 5-3 to Alberta Friday, posted a 6-0 win over Saskatoon early Saturday afternoon and were then eliminated in an 8-0 loss to Port Perry Saturday night.

"We're very, very proud of them because they did not do well at their provincials (elimination tournament)," Allen said. "They did us proud.