Strathmore Thunder girls’ fastpitch softball program looking to the future
By Christine Foshaug Times Contributor
Photo Courtesy of Strathmore Thunder
This year, 115 girls played on 10 teams, from U10 to U16, with competitive teams and development teams in each age group. In Calgary minor league play, the U16 Thunder competitive team captured gold in the playoffs. The U16 development team won the silver medal in the Division 2 playoffs, along with a silver medal in tournament play.
The U12 competitive team placed 1st in Calgary regular season play. Both U12 development teams won silver medals in Calgary league playoffs in their respective 2A and 3A divisions.
Strathmore hosted the girls’ fastpitch softball provincials July 5-7 for the U16B and U14B age groups, with 10 teams in each division from across Alberta.
The Strathmore U14 just missed the medal round with a 2-2 record in the preliminary round, and the U16 ended with a 1-3 record, despite holding huge leads in two of their preliminary round games.
The U12 competitive team finished with a 2-2 record at provincials in Edmonton, and the U10 competitive team made a great run at provincials in Medicine Hat where they dropped only the bronze medal game, finishing 4th in Alberta.
The Strathmore Thunder fastpitch softball program began in 2007-08, but since 2011 the focus has been to serve both the competitive player and the development/community player.
“We have had great success in both levels up to and including provincial play,” said Lanky Johnson, program adviser/director for the Strathmore Thunder. “In provincial play, we have 18 medals accumulated over the years in both competitive and development levels, plus have medalled at two western Canadian finals and have participated in nationals as well.”
On Aug. 27, the Strathmore Thunder will be hosting a U19 team from Hokkaido, Japan for two games at the Strathmore ag grounds. Sherwood Park will be hosting another doubleheader. This will be the second part of the Japan exchange event, since the first part was held last year in Japan.
“Softball Alberta will be forming two teams to play,” explained Johnson. “The south team for the games in Strathmore may have a few local players that have expressed interest in the tryouts.
“It will be a good opportunity for our younger players and fans to get another perspective on how the game is played,” added Johnson, who had an opportunity to play against a Japan national team when she was playing years back in New Zealand. “It will be exciting as the Japan style of play is very, very fast. Hopefully we will arrange some time for our younger players to take the field with the Japan group for some practice as well.”
In terms of the outlook for next year, Johnson said the main goal is to improve Strathmore’s competitive levels for 2020, since they’ve had a two- to three-year lull in provincial results and want to improve on that.
Strathmore’s development participation is in good shape, noted Johnson, with a lot of girls learning and having fun at the same time, which is positive. Another positive is a number of players looking to move up a level.
“Overall, we’d like to move ahead a full step with our off-season training and coaching to keep the fun aspect and achieve the positive results back in our entire program.”