Before we begin, a side note: remember how I wrote that no one could remember the last time a team from Yellowknife had won a provincial softball championship in Alberta? Well, someone did answer that question. A very reliable source has confirmed — with photographic evidence — that the Yellowknife Junior Merchants won gold in the 2006 U17 boys provincial B tournament that year. Mystery solved and I’m removing my calf from my throat.
Now, on with why we’re here today:
So as we revel in what was the biggest softball triumph for the city in quite some time, it bears wondering: where do we go from here?
Women’s fastball in Yellowknife hasn’t been a thing since the 1990s. There have been women who have played in the Yellowknife Fastball League in the years since — that I can remember — but no stand-alone league for around three decades. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying — there have been many people who have tried to bring it back in some form, but to no avail.
Which is why the Yellowknife Wolverines winning in Blackfalds, Alta., last weekend gives me hope that there just may be a push to get women’s fastball on the road to happening again.
Yellowknife, and the NWT, for that matter, has sort of gone against the grain when it comes to fastpitch softball in Canada. The men’s game has been struggling around the country, yet the women’s game has stayed relatively healthy. But not in the capital. There’s a men’s fastball league in Yellowknife (yes, I know women sometimes play in it but for all intents and purposes, it is a men’s league), but women’s fastball is non-existent.
The one thing success breeds is interest. The Wolverines winning generated plenty of interest — all you have to do is see how the story was received when it was published. Many people were quite excited and it’s been the talk of the town since Sunday evening. The job now is harnessing that interest and turning it into something tangible, something long-term. I’m not suggesting it’s going to happen overnight because it’s going to take some time to make it a reality. But the seed has hopefully been planted.
And that’s where the grassroots comes in.
Without grassroots, you don’t have a future in your sport and I don’t care what sport it is. Those who are playing right now won’t be around forever and you need players coming through the pipeline to keep your sport strong. That’s why I’m hopeful because I can see players like Kali Skauge, Erika Pollard, Morgan Stabel and Raine Mingo sticking with fastball long-term. Look in Hay River and you’ll find Keira and Danika Coakwell. Both of those young ladies were on the victorious Wolverines side and the win has been just as popular there as it was here.
That’s just one part of the equation, though. Players need coaches and there are some who have played a huge role in getting the Wolverines to where they are now. Right off the bat, I can think of Jenn Lukas and Steve Thomas, both of whom have played such an integral role in the Wolverines program getting off the ground. Both of them love the sport and have spent many an hour at Tommy Forrest Ball Park working with the minor ball program. They’ve hosted clinics, they’ve coached teams and they’re pretty decent players themselves.
There’s Greg Skauge, who was one of the coaches of the winning Wolverines side. He’s a former player who has transitioned nicely to being a bench boss. Both of his daughters played on that winning team and I’m sure there was a bit of a twinkle when that last out was made. Stacey Lymer also served as a coach and brought plenty of past playing experience along, which would only serve the girls well.
If I forget about Wendy Malkin, she’d let me know about it, so I won’t. Wendy has worked behind the scenes to help fundraise to get these girls out on the road and has coached several of these girls on the house league side. Stacey Stabel, Maurice Helyar — I could go on. Suffice it to say, there have been a lot of people who made sure this happened.
Coach Skauge told me that the plan is to go back and try to win it all again, but it will probably be in a different division. If you think Softball Alberta will allow the Wolverines to enter the D division again, you’d be sadly mistaken. Fool them twice, shame on them, so watch for the Wolverines to try and win it all again next year in at least the C division.
For now, let’s just savour what’s happened and hope that there may be a future for women’s fastball in Yellowknife after all.