July 2009

Written by OntFast Wednesday, 01 July 2009 05:04

Written by OntFast Thursday, 02 July 2009 05:41

Written by OntFast Thursday, 02 July 2009 18:13

A number of Ontario teams are participating in the Canada Cup and Montreal Challenge tournaments. The Montreal Challenge started today (Thursday) and runs through the weekend. The Canada Cup starts on Saturday in the Women's division with Canada facing Venezuela, with the Futures and Showcase divisons starting on Monday and running all week. You can keep up with the results from the links below.

Written by OntFast Friday, 03 July 2009 04:54

There are three tournaments this weekend for you to enjoy. The Brampton Open Blast features 13 teams from around the province. The Townsend Hits For Cancer tournament has 8 teams participating for a very worthwhile cause. In Palmerston we have the Triple Crown tournament with 7 teams in Midget and 8 teams in Bantam battling it out as they move toward the Tier 2 qualifiers.

It should be a beautiful weekend to watch some more ball, so grab your hat and some sun screen and head off to the park of your choice.

Note: The Townsend schedule has been updated due to a team dropping out at the last minute.

Written by Robert Hilson Friday, 03 July 2009 10:13

Hamilton, ON - McMaster University announced that Ken Oda (Scarborough, ON) is the new head coach of the McMaster women's fastpitch team.

Oda is a National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Level III softball coach and course conductor for Softball Ontario.  He is currently pursuing his NCCP Level IV and V through the National Coaching Institute(NCI) program in Toronto.

Ken is currently the Head Coach of the Scarborough Stingrays Midget and Novice girls fastpitch teams.

Oda graduated from the McMaster Physical Education program in 1994.  He went on to earn his Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree at Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ken commented that "I am excited to be back at my alma mater!  My passion is coaching and I feel I will be able to provide leadership and commitment to the team.  I am looking forward to continue to build on the success of the fastpitch program at  McMaster University.  Let's play ball!"

Jeff Giles, Director of Athletics & Recreation at McMaster University indicated that "Ken brings a history of McMaster, an understanding of the role of sport in the educational institution, a strong knowledge of coaching, and a commitment to the student-athlete.  I would like to welcome Ken to our coaching staff".

Oda replaces Doug Parry, the founder and head coach of the Marauders for the past nine seasons.

The McMaster fastpitch team will begin training camp in September.

Written by Gary Kingston Monday, 06 July 2009 05:11

By Gary Kingston, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — They are American sweethearts from Buffalo, N.Y., Mountainview, Calif., Omaha, Neb., and Plainfield, Ill. And they'll be at Softball City in South Surrey beginning this weekend.

But they aren't members of Team USA. They're red and white, but not blue.

Some have Canadian flags in their bedrooms. Or mothers that still end sentences with an "eh." They can find Edmonton on a map without help. They know the words to O Canada.

And most importantly to Harvey Stevenson, Softball Canada's national teams manager, they can hit a 70-mile-an-hour riseball, run like gazelles to first base, or throw a screwball that turns sharper than a short-track speed skater.

Team Canada's core group at this year's Canada Cup international fastpitch tournament is still led by locally produced talent — pitching ace Danielle Lawrie of Langley, line-drive-smacking infielders Jenn Salling of Port Coquitlam and Jennifer Yee of North Delta, slugging outfielder Melanie Matthews of Cloverdale — but in the search for good, young talent, Stevenson isn't shy about snatching a few of Uncle Sam's nieces.

Written by Frank Crudo Monday, 06 July 2009 13:14

This picture is from the June 26-28 Mississauga Partners Tournament, the Squirt II Gold Medal Game, where the Oak Ridges Diamonds beat the Vaughan Vikings in extra innings 3-2, in just over 1 hour 45 minutes.  Great game pitched by both pitchers Morgan and Vanessa, who went all 8 innings.  These girls showed off their talents and true sporstmanship, while having fun playing.  Fantastic job by both Mississauga North and Southwest for putting on the tournament.

Written by Scott Dennis Tuesday, 07 July 2009 05:02

OSHAWA, Ont. – Nominations are being sought for the 14th induction of the Durham College Sports Hall of Fame, which is scheduled to take place in November of 2009.

The Hall of Fame honours former student-athletes, coaches and administrators at the institution. There have been 34 individuals honoured at 13 inductions since the Hall of Fame was established in 1997.

Candidates for election will be chosen on the basis of player ability, sportsmanship, character, contribution to their particular sport, the honour brought to Durham College and to sport in general.

Written by OntFast Tuesday, 07 July 2009 09:05

This is a pretty neat video of a baseball player practicing his swing, and halfway through he spins the bat and catches it to finish the swing. When I saw it I immediately grabbed a bat and tried it myself, which I am now merely thankful I didn't injure myself because it's not easy to.

Written by OntFast Wednesday, 08 July 2009 05:41

These are the dates and schedules for the provincial draws for the Qualifiers and Tier 1 Grand Championships. The Tier 2 Grand Championship schedules are available following the qualifier results, but the Mite schedule is posted. Just click on any of the location names for the schedule in PDF format.

	Mite	Squirt	Novice	Bantam	Midget
Tier 2 Qualifiers		July 24-26 Niagara Falls Oak Ridges	July 24-26 Guelph Niagara Falls Whitby	July 17-19 Brampton Napanee St. Catharines	July 24-26 Orleans Palmerston Whitby
GC Tier 1		August 14-16 Brantford	July 24-26 Stratford	July 10-12 Windsor	July 17-19 Guelph (RR) Guelph (GC)
GC Tier 2	August 14-16 Stratford	August 14-16 Brampton	August 7-9 Windsor	August 7-9 London	August 7-9 Ancaster

 

	Junior	Intermediate	Senior
GC Tier 1	July 17-19 Port Perry	July 31-August 2 Byron	July 17-19 Port Perry
GC Tier 2	August 14-16 Brampton	July 31-August 2 Townsend