Image Credit: Adam Donnelly/CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

MEN'S FASTPITCH SOFTBALL

Top talent on display at STK Fastball invitational tournament in Kamloops

Jun 10, 2024 | 6:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Six teams started the day in contention for prize money at the second annual STK Invitational Fastpitch Tournament on Sunday (June 9).

In the first semi-final, the Emery Electric Chargers from Victoria took on a scrappy young Saskatoon Jacks squad. On the other diamond, two teams laden with international-level talent faced off, as the host team, STK Fastball, faced off against the Grande Prairie Pirates.

“The talent they’ve got out here, it’s definitely worth coming to watch and it’s a short drive for me,” Men’s National Team Canada Head Coach John Stuart explains. “Lots of guys on our radar for Team Canada playing in this tournament, so it’s been really good so far.”

Stuart, who lives in Merritt, led Softball Canada to a World Cup championship in 2015 in Saskatoon, as well as bronze medals in 2017 and 2019 and a silver medal in 2022. He was impressed by the level of talent he saw at Charles Anderson this weekend.

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“You’ve got players from all over the world here. STK has got some international players. Grande Prairie has got some players that have played Senior-A their whole lives. They’re a very talented team,” Stuart says. “Some of the pitching here is top notch.”

Bringing this top talent to the BC Interior has been Benny Anthony’s mission for the past two seasons, as he prepares his STK Fastball squad for the 2024 ISC World Tournament. This year, the STK tournament was a qualifier for the ISC event which is being held in BC for the first time since 1997.

“It’s definitely important to make [this tournament] the ISC qualifier because the ISCs are in Surrey this year, which basically our backyard,” Anthony explains. “I think it just makes it a higher calibre tournament.”

Anthony’s STK Fastball club took on the Saskatoon Jacks in Sunday’s championship final. In a tight ball game, STK managed to repeat as tournament champions with a 3-1 win over the Jacks. For Steve Normand, who is one of the players vying to don the Maple Leaf in mid-July, facing top hitters at tournaments like this is important for keeping his pitching skills sharp for the busy summer ahead.

“We’ve got next weekend off to recuperate and we’ll be go, go, go after that,” Normand says. “We’ve got a good schedule of tournaments coming up and hopefully we just keep winning some ballgames and keep building towards the ASAs on the August long weekend and then the ISCs to cap things off.”

The STK Fastball Invitational kicks off a busy stretch of play for many of these teams, as they build towards the ISC World Tournament in Surrey in August. While fastpitch softball isn’t as popular as it was in its heyday, an event like this being hosted in BC could help reinvigorate interest in the game.

“The ISCs are going to have all the international players, all the top club teams,” Stuart explains. “It’s sprouted up a lot of local teams from [Vancouver] Island, the North Shore, the Interior that are going to attend this ISC and it’s going be an eye opener for these teams in a positive way.”