Fw: Softball Canada Media Release / Communiqué de presse

[fastball at pmihrm.com]

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

-----Original Message-----
From: "Softball Canada" <newsletter at softball.ca>
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:22:05 
To: Al's Fastball News<Fastball at pmihrm.com>
subject:Softball Canada Media Release / Communiqué de presse

 
 
 
2012 Softball Canada Hall of Fame Inductees 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
June 21, 2012 

 Softball Canada Announces 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees 

 (Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce that Doug Chase (Athlete, British Columbia), Stan Hay (Official, Alberta), Mike Piechnik (Athlete, British Columbia), Brian Sosnowski (Athlete, Alberta) and the 1990-1993 Junior Men's Lloydminster Liners (Team, Alberta) will be inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on November 10th, 2012 in Calgary, Alberta. 

 Doug Chase's (Port Alberni, BC) playing career spanned 17 years, including 13 as a member of the Canadian Men's National Team. During that time, he won three Pan American Games Gold medals (1991, 1995 and 1999), and Gold (1992) and Silver (1996) medals at the International Softball Federation (ISF) Men's World Championships. At the national level, Doug won three Canadian Championship Gold medals (1991, 1992 and 1997), and was a three-time Canadian Championship All-Star Catcher (1987, 1997 and 1998). He is currently an assistant coach with the Junior Men's National Team. 

 Stan Hay (Calgary, AB) was one of the first umpires to receive his Level V status in Fastpitch, earning this honour at the 1980 Senior Men's Canadian Championship. On the field, he also worked the 1975 Senior Women's and 1982 Senior Men's Canadian Championships, before supervising 13 other Canadian Championships between 1983 and 1991 (including two Championships per year from 1986-1989). Stan served on the Officiating Development Committee (ODC) from 1986 to 1991, and held numerous umpiring clinics in Alberta and throughout Canada. He was also one of the first two Canadian umpires to pass the ISF Recertification Clinic in 1987, and umpired at the 1981 ISF Youth World Championship and the 1988 ISF Men's World Championship. He has also attended every Softball Canada Blue Convention (1987-2010), and plans to attend the 2013 Blue Convention as well. 

 Mike Piechnik (Victoria, BC) played alongside Doug Chase both for Victoria Payless and the Canadian Men's National Team for many years. He spent 13 years with the Men's National Team, winning two Pan American Games Gold medals (1995 and 1999), and Gold (1992) and Silver (1996) medals at the ISF Men's World Championships. He also won three Canadian Championship Gold medals (1991, 1992 and 1997), while earning four Top Pitcher awards (1990, 1993, 1995 and 1998) and three Top Player awards (1992, 1993, and 2001). Mike also pitched back-to-back perfect games at the 1993 Canadian Championship. 

 Brian Sosnowski (Leduc, AB) enjoyed a fantastic 25-year playing career at the Intermediate and Senior Men's levels, earning three Gold (1980, 1985 and 1987) and three Silver (1982, 1983 and 1986) medals at the Canadian Championships, and was named an All-Star three times in three decades (1972, 1981 and 1991). One of the most feared hitters of the 1980's, 'Sos' also represented Canada at the 1983 Pan American Games, winning a Gold medal at the event as Canada sent its first National Team to the tournament. He is already a member of the Softball Canada Hall of Fame as a member of that team, but will be inducted for his personal accomplishments. 

 The 1990-1993 Junior Men's Lloydminster Liners were only the second team to win four consecutive Canadian Championships in the same age category, after the Victoria Bates Construction (inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1993) did it from 1975-1978 in the Senior Men's category. The Liners' coaching staff of Ian Belyea, Jim Harvie, Gary Thiessen and Manager Mike Lamb did a fantastic job of finding a good core of local players while also attracting key pickups to help them achieve the top spot in Junior Men's Fastpitch in the early 1990's. Key players included Craig Crawford and Colin Abbott - each playing one season for the Liners - who went on to play on the Men's National Team for 14 and 15 years respectively. In addition to these two pickups, Kelly Thiessen was a member of all four Gold medal teams, while Lorne Graham, Bradley Blackburn, Danny Haygarth and Mark Hanson each played on three Championship teams. 

 Four of the inductees will join the Softball Canada Hall of Fame at an Induction ceremony which will be held Saturday, November 10th, 2012. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with Softball Canada's Annual General Meeting and Congress in Calgary, Alberta, which will take place from November 8-11. Doug Chase will not be in attendance for the induction ceremony as he will be serving as an assistant coach of the Junior Men's National Team at the ISF World Championship in Argentina (November 1-10). Other arrangements for his induction will be made. 

 -SC- 

 For more information, please contact: 

 Gilles LeBlanc 
Manager - Marketing and Communications 
Softball Canada 
(613)-523-3386 ext 3105 
gleblanc at softball.ca 
 
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter please click here to unsubscribe. 
Si vous ne désirez plus recevoir ce bulletin, click here pour vous désabonner. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://fastpitchwest.com/pipermail/alsfastball_fastpitchwest.com/attachments/20120621/4691955b/attachment.htm>