It is more than a pitch that pops the catcher’s glove when Gianna Wade throws. It’s a jet-stream of dreams that comes hurling in.
It isn’t lost on her that softball is an athletic scholarship sport in the U.S., and that it will likely be voted back into the Olympics for Tokyo 2020.
“Playing for Canada and in the NCAA are the big goals I’m reaching for,” said the 14-year-old pitcher and first baseman, who is heading into Grade 9 at Belmont Secondary.
“I’m looking forward to having softball back in the Olympics. It would be so awesome [for her] in 2024.”
But there are a lot of pitches to throw before that, starting this week in Calgary, where Hampton plays for the Canadian Little League girls’ 14-15 softball championship.
Wade is an allowed pick-up for the team, but doesn’t play regularly for Hampton. Her league games this spring were for the Bellingham Power House elite team and she got on a ferry and a van back and forth every weekend.
“We did really well, placing fourth among the 90 teams in the 14-15 age group in the Washington state championships,” said Wade.
This is an athlete totally committed to her sport.
“If I’m not playing, I’m training,” she said.
“This is the one thing I shine in.”
Hampton is happy to have her. The feeling is mutual.
“This is a great group of girls and I fit in right away,” said Wade.
Without a collegiate equivalent of the NCAA in Canada for softball, the sport took a hit here when it lost the profile afforded by the Olympics as softball was discontinued following the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. That is reflected at the Little League level, where Hampton and Calgary are the lone teams in the Canadian 14-15-year-old championship this week, which will be a best-of-five series. The winner will advance to the Junior League Softball World Series July 31 to Aug. 6 in Kirkland, Washington.
Softball Canada also hosts a Canadian championship for this age group, and all others, which attracts more teams and these players alternate between the two organizations from year to year, playing as the Victoria Devils in Softball Canada national tournaments. As the Devils, this group of players finished third in the country last year in the 13-14-year-old Softball Canada nationals.
“I hope that getting softball back in the Olympics leads to a spike in interest across the country,” said Paddy Strandlund, GM of the Hampton team.
“Because, to get players, we are up against sports like hockey and soccer that are now year-round.”
But these are dedicated diamond girls.
“I’ve played since I was six and I want to take this further . . . to a scholarship,” said 15-year-old Hampton pitcher Zoe Lott, who also plays soccer, basketball and volleyball at SMUS.
“I’m stoked there’s a chance softball will get back in the Olympics.”
About this Hampton group, Lott said: “We are very strong defensively, have timely hitting and we communicate well.”
They seem to have all the right tools.
“The junior national team is looking at some of these girls,” said Hampton coach Bruce Lubinich.
“Next year, we’ll be taking these players to the big identification camps in Denver and Portland.”
It suddenly starts getting very real. But this is a group that looks ready to take advantage of the opportunities their sport could provide them.
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