Hill a pioneer in girls' fastball

[Al's Fastball News]

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/OtherSports/2007/07/13/4336052-sun.html

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Hill a pioneer in girls' fastball

Fri, July 13, 2007

By RYAN PYETTE, SUN MEDIA
    

  
One of the great pioneers and supporters of girls' fastball in
London has died. 

Dorothy Hill, a long-time volunteer and administrator who was
instrumental in turning the Forest City into a provincial fastball
hub, died Saturday while on vacation in Iroquois Falls. She was
69. 

"She was first class," longtime friend Ken Senior said. "She
loved sports and she stayed involved long after her children
had passed age eligibility to play." 

Hill was a driving force with the Tri County girls league, a
past-president of London Lightning, part of the Provincial Women's
Softball Association, and a member of Softball Ontario's board
of directors. 

Thirty-two years ago, Hill began the search to find competitive
fastball for her daughter Ellen in Byron. Her efforts spawned
the Dorothy Hill Fastball Tournament, which became one of the
biggest events in Ontario and attracted college talent scouts
from all over the U.S. 

Hill ran the tournament with her late husband Barry for several
years and the number of participating teams sky-rocketed to 180,
which necessitated the use of diamonds throughout the city and
the spreading of the competition over two weekends. 

Ten years ago, the event was handed over by Hill to the London
Lightning Fastball Association to run. This summer, the tournament
was cancelled and put on hiatus due to a lack of entries and
a dip in the sport's popularity -- an unfortunate and ironic
circumstance. 

"It had evolved over the years and you could see the past few
that the number of teams had gradually been reduced," said Senior,
who ran the tournament for five years and had been involved in
the 30th anniversary edition two summers ago. 

"In its heyday, a lot of teams came from Toronto to play but
there's always a competition among tournaments. The Kitchener
area held one around the same dates and that's an hour closer
for those teams." 






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