From the men's league to the recently revived women's league, to locals representing Canada in the sport, fastball in Squamish is in full swing.
The excitement was started last weekend with an exhibition game between the Squamish Wizards and the Vancouver Grey Sox. Coached by local John Stuart, the Grey Sox won both of the doubleheader games convincingly, 7-2 and 7-1.
Another local, Kevin Schellenberg, who also plays on the Senior Men's National Fastball team, has played for the Grey Sox for the past four years and said playing against the Squamish team last weekend was a welcomed opportunity.
"It was a lot of fun to play in my Grey Sox uniform in my home town," said Schellenberg, who batted a home run in the second match. "I haven't had that chance before."
As a member of the national squad, Schellenberg will be partaking in a selection camp in Ontario next week for a group to represent Canada at the Pan American Fastball Championships in Mexico. Stuart has also been invited to the tryouts as a guest coach.
Schellenberg said the Grey Sox would be working towards their end of the season goal to compete in the ISC International Fastball Tournament in Kitchener, Ont. and the Canadian National Championships in Prince George.
The Grey Sox are currently ranked seventh in the world and Stuart said his team would be looking to advance on this position and were grateful for their recent match in Squamish."
"We would like to place in the top five at the worlds and of course win the Canadian Championships," he said. "We would like to thank the Squamish Wizards for hosting us last weekend."
Despite losing, the calibre of the Vancouver-based team left the Wizards feeling proud of their results.
"We were facing the two best pitchers in Canada so considering the competition we were playing we came out positively," said Wizard second baseman Kevin Smillie. "It makes our guys want to play at a higher level."
The two best pitchers in Canada were not enough to stop two local Wizards, Craig Halliday and Travis Moyle, from hitting home runs in the first game. According to Smillie there was no hesitation for his team to take on the nationally-ranked Grey Sox.
"We were asked to play by John Stuart and if you have the opportunity to play the second-best team in Canada, then why not?" he said.
Squmish's Men's Fastball Leagueplay also starts this week with doubleheaders every Tuesday and Thursday on the men's diamond at 6:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. There are also single men's games on Friday nights at 6:45 p.m. followed by women's fastball league action under the lights at 8:30 p.m.
Renovations in the off-season have spruced up the diamond the men play on, including a new eight-foot-high fence, scorekeeper's box, and concession stands.
