Kinburn fundraiser on February 15

There's a fundraiser in Kinburn on February 15 to help assist a cousin of a GOFL player. 

To learn more about the event - which involves a "Sno-Pitch" ball tournament - visit the Team Hanna Fundraiser Facebook page.

Andrew Putnam recognized at Ottawa Sports Awards

Andrew Putnam was recognized at the 2015 Ottawa Sports Awards as the softball athlete of the year. The following description was in the program:

SOFTBALL – ANDREW PUTNAM:

Andrew recently moved to Ottawa for work reasons. He immediately became involved in the local softball community playing with the I4C Victory team that plays in the Greater Ottawa Fastball League. Playing as a pitcher, he has helped this team win 2 back-to-back league championships. Picked up by the Kitchener Cubs fastball team, he pitched them to a provincial title and was the winning pitcher in the championship game. This Kitchener-based team went on to compete at the International Softball Congress Team World Championships in the U.S. where they placed very respectable 7th out of 42 teams.

OASA Masters Provincials

The Ontario Amateur Softball Association is pleased to announce that the 2016 Masters tournament will be held July 8-10 in St. Clements. Sammy Forbes, the Waterloo Legends and Twin Center Minor Softball will once again host this great event at a terrific complex. The ball diamonds were raved about by the 14 teams that competed last year.


With so many premier fastball events in Southern Ontario this July, the tournament has been moved up from its original weekend. Trying not to conflict with other major events and allow the loyal Master fastball players and fans an opportunity to attend our event was a determining factor. Similar to 2015, there will be 3 divisions. We will have the Legends 50 plus and the 40 and over A and B divisions with a slightly different twist. Teams will declare which division they wish to compete in so that a competitive and equal schedule for all teams will be developed.

With early interest from Ottawa, Kingston and Sudbury, we hope to attract teams from across the province and we certainly thank the 14 teams that competed last year and hope to see them return this coming July.


For further information please contact Tournament Director Jamie Simpson.
simper7@sympatico.ca
519-580-3710


Thank you
Jamie Simpson
OASA Vice President

End of a fastball era in Jarvis

An article from the Simcoe Reformer about fastball in Jarvis, ON.

Ed Bitz Scholarship for Umpires

Ed Bitz Scholarship

from Softball Canada

AMOUNT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

Two $1,000.00 scholarship will be awarded.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Any umpire member of a Provincial/Territorial (P/T) Association who is registered with Softball Canada and who is entering the first, second year or subsequent year of a post-secondary educational institution is eligible for this scholarship. The applicant must be a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident.

TIME OF APPLICATION

A call for nominations will be sent out by Softball Canada in the January to mid-February time period. All nominations must be received by Softball Canada no later than March 1. Only applications on the Ed Bitz Scholarship application form accompanied by the required letters of support and received by the deadline will be considered.

For more information visit softball.ca.

Caveman, 10 year old quote machine

For those of you that aren't on Twitter and/or don't follow me @fitzroyfastball, here are some recent notable Caveman quotes / stories.

Caveman is currently enjoying a career-best hockey season, lighting things up in the U10 Atom house league.    Back in mid-November, former NHLer Radek Bonk was out to one of the Caveman's hockey practice last night. Nice guy, great with the kids. Caveman asked him "Who's the biggest goon you played against?" (His answer: "Too many to name!")

At the end of November, as I was getting ready to leave on an annual football road trip with 20 other guys, Caveman asked me: "Daddy, have you ever CHUGGED a beer?"  (Answer: "Uh.....well, I guess so.")

About a month ago, I walked in on Caveman after his bath. He was standing in front of mirror, water dripping off him, buck naked, flexing his biceps in the mirror. He said "Oh hey Daddy", and just carried on about his business posing.

Caveman's hockey team did this pre-Christmas thing where each kid on the team got a blank sheet of paper and wrote down the best quality about each their teammates. Six of 12 kids noted for Caveman that he was a "good dancer", recognizing this goal scoring "celly" and pre-game moves in the dressing room to the blasting music. (He gets this talent from his mother, clearly.)

Caveman's hockey team recently competed in the Bell Capital Cup, finishing second in a 35-team tournament. Despite his reluctance at having his leisure time over the holidays impacted - he made a deal that he would play if he got to continue to wear his pajamas for the entire event which he did for all four days as part of his annual Pyjama Mararthon - he ended up playing the best hockey I have ever seen him play. In the quarter-finals, he scored the game winning goal on a breakaway in a 1-0 win. In the semi-finals he got "hustler of the game". The final was on the big stage at the Ottawa Senators' Canadian Tire Centre arena. Not quite all of the 18,500 seats were filled, but there was a good crowd to see a bunch of ten year olds play hockey. There was even some coverage on the local TV station (Caveman is #8 on the yellow team). His team lost 2-1 in overtime, but the Caveman did score his team's only goal and he was named "second star" of the game. All in all an incredible experience. Afterward, I asked him how he enjoyed it, and wasn't it worth giving up some of his Christmas holidays. His comment: "It was OK, but a bit of a hassle."

Caveman's Cousin Herb recently made a purchase with some Christmas money: a new hamster (named Hamilton) for $3. This pet is in addition to their current cat. Caveman's comment:  "Only 3 bucks? Why buy cat food? Just keep getting new hamsters."