Softball Canada Announces 2015 Award Winners

Wed Oct 28 14:39:04 EDT 2015

Softball Canada Announces 2015 Award Winners

Published by Gilles LeBlanc

Published on October 28, 2015

(Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce the following
award winners who will be recognized at the Softball Canada Hall
of Fame and Awards Banquet on November 14th, 2015 in Winnipeg
Manitoba. The Banquet will be held in conjunction with the Softball
Canada Congress and Annual General Meeting, which will take place
from November 12-14. As previously announced, Bruce Bierman (Official,
Ontario), Roy and Evelyne Holenski (Builders, Manitoba), Sandy
(Newsham) Maskiw (Athlete, Manitoba), the 1994-1996 Smitty’s
Midget Girls’ Team (Team, Manitoba) and the 1993-1997 Smitty’s
Senior Women’s Team (Team, Manitoba) will be inducted into the
Softball Canada Hall of Fame during this Banquet.

The Home Run Sports Coach of the Year award will be presented
to David Muswaggon from Cross Lake, Manitoba. As head coach of
the Pimicikamak Thunder, Muswaggon’s team captured the Gold medal
at the 2015 Provincial Championship and the 2014 and 2015 U16
Boys Western Canadian Softball Championship and recently placed
6th at Softball Canada’s 2015 U16 Boys Canadian Championship.
He emphasizes playing the game the “right way” by teaching the
fundamentals. Commitment to school, family and community is equally
important to him. His dedication included driving his athletes
to Saskatoon for the Junior Men’s National Team Identification
Camps so they could reach for their dreams.

Terry Richter, from Sherwood Park, Alberta has been selected
as the recipient of the Home Run Sports Umpire of the Year award.
On the field, Richter represented Canada as an umpire at the
2015 WBSC Men’s World Softball Championships in Saskatoon, only
one year after working the WBSC Junior Men’s World Championships
in Whitehorse. Off the field, Richter continues to lead one of
the most successful programs in the country in his position as
UIC for Softball Alberta. By empowering many to lead instruction
and evaluation, he has prepared and provided quality umpires
for provincial, regional and national championships for many
years.

The Rose Hodgson Volunteer of the Year award will be presented
to Valerie Pelleck from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Pelleck has excelled
in many of Softball Manitoba’s Competition and Development programs
over the years, most notably with the Canada Games team and has
been Manitoba’s provincial team manager since 2012. She has experience
as mission staff and medical liaison at multi-sport events, having
volunteered at the Canada Winter Games and the Western Canada
Games, and served as medical liaison at this summer’s Pan American
Games in Toronto. She is also a Level IV umpire who worked at
the U21 Women’s Canadian Championship in Charlottetown, PEI this
summer.

This year’s recipients of the Claude Deschamps Memorial Fund
are Natalie Wideman from Mississauga, Ontario and Matthew Wardrop
from Owen Sound, Ontario.

Natalie Wideman from Mississauga, Ontario is entering her second
year of a Bachelor of Naturopathy degree at the Canadian College
of Naturopathic Medicine after graduating from California University
of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in 2014. A current
member of the Senior Women’s National Team, Wideman competed
at the US World Cup of Softball, the Canadian Open Fastpitch
International Championship and won a Gold medal at the Pan American
Games in Toronto.

Matthew Wardrop recently began his first year of a Bachelor of
Kinesiology degree at Wilfrid Laurier University. A native of
Owen Sound, Ontario, Wardrop won Gold medals at the 2014 U18
Men’s Canadian Championship as a member of the New Hamburg Heat
and at the 2015 U21 Men’s Canadian Championship with the New
Hamburg/Stratford Cubs. He represented Team Canada as a member
of the Junior Men’s National Team at the 2014 WBSC Junior Men’s
World Championship, and later took home the Top Player of the
Championship Round award at the 2014 Canadian Championship.

The Ethel Boyce Memorial Award will be awarded to Olivia Priestlay
from Ladner, British Columbia and Greg Hammell from New Hamburg,
Ontario.

Olivia Priestlay, from Ladner, British Columbia, recently began
his first year at the University of British Columbia in Science.
A member of the White Rock Renegades 97 team, she has competed
in seven Provincial Championships and four Canadian Championships.
In 2013, she helped the Renegades to Gold at the Provincial Championship
followed by another Gold medal at the U16 Girl’s Canadian Championship,
where she was named to the tournament All-Star Team and took
home the Top Batter award. This past season, she was a member
of Team BC.

Greg Hammell is a third year Bachelor of Sport Management student
at Brock University from New Hamburg, Ontario. He won a Gold
medal at the U21 Men’s Canadian Championship this summer as a
member of the New Hamburg/Stratford Cubs and was named Top Batter
and Top Player of the Championship Round. He also competed locally
at the Senior Men’s level with the Shakespeare Falcons. He previously
won Silver medals at the 2011 U19 Men’s and 2013 U21 Men’s Canadian
Championships, earned a Bronze at the U21 level in 2014 and was
named the Top Pitcher at the U18 level in 2012.

The Softball Canada Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet will be streamed
on Softball Canada’s website starting at 8:00pm CST on Saturday,
November 14. The video will also be available on Softball Canada’s
YouTube page to be viewed any time. The Banquet will be held
in conjunction with Softball Canada’s Annual General Meeting
and Congress in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which will take place from
November 12-14. Winnipeg was also where Softball Canada was formed
in 1965.

The theme of Softball Canada’s 50th Anniversary celebration is
“Celebrating the Past and Building the Future”. Softball players
and fans are passionate, and behind each and every one of them
is a moment that started it all. This theme celebrates that moment,
whether it happened in the past or whether it is happening right
now, kick starting future generations of players and fans.

Congratulations to all of this year’s award winners!

-SC-

For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc at softball.ca
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