On October 14th, 2016, our 18U squad opened up the road trip with a double header against the DI Marshall University Thundering Herd at Dot Hicks Field in Huntington, West Virginia. We battled hard all through the day, with excellent some stand out performances coming from our young squad. It was day full of pride and enjoyment, as JR. Elicia D’Orazio hosted our squad post game to congratulate the girls on their battle, as well as let them know what it takes to reach their post-secondary goals.

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From Huntington, West Virginia, we piled into our vans and drove to Grayson, Kentucky to face off with the Kentucky Christian Knights on October 15th, 2016. 2019 grad Alyssa Vilchez hit a home run in her first at-bat to open up two exciting games at Championship Fastpitch Softball Complex.

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No trip would be complete without at least one Sweet 16 birthday party. With the generosity of her mom, Leila, OF’er Milanna Payie celebrated her birthday on the road in the living room of the Hampton Inn. Please watch while she thinks she gets punked:

Our final DH of the weekend came versus DI Morehead State University Eagles at University Field in Morehead, Kentucky. With a beautiful day and a field fit for television, our girls battled a talented and aggressive squad. Exposing our young team to this type of challenge is exactly why we do these types of trips. You don’t know how good you can be until you face the best teams. Having been invited back next year already, I can’t wait to see what we can do next fall a year older, wiser and stronger.

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With our season about to start, the lessons and memories of the fall definitely sparked one heck of an off-season for our young squad. I can’t see what’s to come for these dedicated and hungry girls as they open up their season with exhibition games against the Quebec Rebelles 18U and 21U April 29 & 30 in Laval.

The first TFC college tour didn’t go quite as planned as mother nature didn’t let up on the rain all weekend. Due to inclement weather, the Toronto Fastpitch Club was only able to play one 9 inning game battling Adelphi hard before the rain opened up. Unfortunately, the bad weather didn’t stop there as both the Kutztown and New Haven scheduled games were  subsequently rained out.

During the campus tour at Adelphi with Sophomore Kristin Fealy at the helm, the players really enjoyed the indepth tour as well as  program offerings with various team mates meeting them along the way to describe their own programs and explain how they’re able to handle both academics and the schedule of the softball team.

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Rained out the following day, the TFC packed the vans and headed to Kutztown for a campus tour provided by Junior Asja Saito. After visiting the field and indulging in crowd pleasing Chic-Fil-A, the tour was wrapped up with a trip to the Campus Store for KU swag.

With hope in their hearts, the TFC continued on to their last stop on the tour racing a storm system that took over most of the eastern seaboard. The University of New Haven staff welcomed us with open arms. As the tour went on, it became clear that the skies were not in our favour, as the New Haven grounds keeper sadly had to cancel our games after watching the radar all morning. With most of the New Haven softball players with us for the tour, it was a very rewarding experience for the TFC as they were able to experience a snippet of the comraderie of a collegiate program.

With the weather out of our control, the players certainly didn’t waste any of their time over the course of the weekend, making the best of their introductions, tours and spending time with each other on the road.  It was a rewarding weekend, and we would like to thank everybody that made our games and tours possible. The coaching staff at Adelphi,  Kutztown and New Haven are gracious hosts, and we thank them for the opportunity to come see their schools.

With the TFC set to travel to Kentucky and West Virginia this weekend to play Marshall University, Kentucky Christian University and Morehead State University, we look forward to clear skies. Wish us luck as we hit the road!

The Sanderson Family will be holding a Celebration of Life for Mark on September 24, 2016 from 2pm to 4:30pm at the Cawthra Arena Community Centre. Mark began his coaching career with the Cawthra Cougars, and the field holds a lot of memories for his family and friends.

Carmen Corbasson Community Centre (formerly Cawthra Arena)
1399 Cawthra Rd.
Mississauga, ON L5G4L1
905-615-4800

If you wish to say a few words in memory of Mark at the Celebration, please contact Mark’s brother, Rob Sanderson.

RSanderson@acmefx.ca

416-458-0312

Week One of the fall season has commenced in spectacular fashion as the 16U/18U squads finished their weekend at the Homerun Softball Invitational going 4-1 and 4-0 respectively. Luckily, the rain held off, and both squads were treated to a full weekend of softball.

16U Head Coach Robyn Draper proudly lead her brand new roster of 13 patiently through the weekend. With every inning gaining more momentum, the blue and white’s bats came alive while being supported by solid defence and pitching throughout. The giggles, smiles and excitement were palpable.

My goal for the weekend was to bring back the love of the game for these girls, and I think we did that. A lot of coaches are so wrapped up in their record that they forget what the game is all about. The girls came out and had fun and by the end of the weekend, we saw exactly what we knew these girls were capable of. We have an extraordinary group of young women that are eager to learn about the game and develop on & off the field to excel in this sport. I’m excited for the off-season to build the foundations necessary to compete for a provincial, and hopefully, national championship next year!

-Head Coach Robyn Draper

Welcome to the program ladies!

All smiles after the 16U Syracuse Inaugural Weekend with an 18U family photo bomb for good measure.

Echoing the success of the 16’s, our 18U scrimmaged gracious hosts Homerun Softball in two double headers. In a flurry of great at bats, 8 new TFC players made a loud and exciting playing debut.  Shardon Geluch brought her big bat this weekend and hit her first 3 career HR’s for the blue and white, supporting Julia Jodouin, Allyse Volpe, Alyssa Vilchez, Julianna Campbell, Molly Edge and Keira Morrow whom all enjoyed what was easily double-digit-hit weekends. Julianna and Keira were solid walls behind the plate leading our defence and keeping great tabs on pitchers Vilchez, Jamie Jang and new addition, crafty lefty Kassidy Schiber. Milanna Payie and  Melissa Morrison made quite a few stellar catches in the outfield for our pitchers, while Maggie MacInnis’ calm approach and keen eye at the plate put her on base for seemingly every at-bat all weekend.

Senior Jamie Jang on the mound

First Warm-Up

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Every year during try-outs, you try to find character players; sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t. This year I’m absolutely satisfied with the personality, skill level and character of the athletes that have made the 2016/2017 TFC 18u Gold Team. After the first weekend, I’m looking forward to see how far this squad can go.

-Head Coach Alan Spohn

This weekend was a great gauge for our team preparations leading into our college tour that starts in 2 weeks with a double header against Adelphi (DII). To read more about the 18u 2016 College Barnstorming Tour, please click here.

Please enjoy some of our photos collected by players and parents this weekend:

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The Toronto Fastpitch Club 18U team will once again head on the road this fall for a tour of colleges and universities. Using an extensive list of contacts including past players and college coaches carefully curated in over 20 years of coaching competitive softball, Head Coach Alan Spohn was fielding game requests this summer while competing all over North America.

Full College Tour Schedule:

Wednesday Sept. 28  Adelphi University Panthers:  Janet L. Fricke Field -Garden City, N.Y. (NE 10 Champions . Back to Back World Series Appearances NCAA DII)

Thursday Sept. 29 Kutztown University Bears: North Campus Field -Kutztown, Pa. (PSAC Atlanta Regionals NCAA DII)

Friday Sept. 30 University of New Haven Chargers: UNH Softball Field – West Haven, Conn. (NE 10 NCAA DII)

Friday Oct.14 Marshall University Thundering Herd: Dot Hicks Field  Huntington WV. (Conferance USA NCAA DI)

Saturday Oct.15 Kentucky Christian Knights: Championship Softball Complex – Cannonsburg KY (Independent NAIA)

Sunday Oct.16 Morehead State Eagles: University Field – Morehead KY (Ohio Valley Conference NCAA DI)

American colleges and universities are able to compete in exhibition games with international teams during the fall season, graciously hosting us at their playing fields, while provided enriched college-level game experience. The college tour provides live game introductions while also creating an exciting setting to get to know new team mates and continue to build friendships with current ones.

I think my favourite part of the tour was being able to play against all the college teams because it gave me an idea of what I have to work towards. It helped bring the team together. Most of us had played together before but it was still a new team so it forced us to come together especially against a team like the Winthrop University Eagles.

– Allyse Volpe TFC Class of 2018

Last year’s college tour saw a very young TFC team pile into a bus and vans as a brand new team challenging and holding their own against Kutztown, Adelphi, the Winthrop University Eagles, and South Carolina State. The team was thrilled to compete against familiar faces, program graduates and ex-team mates Kristin Fealy (Adelphi), Asja Saito and Sam Fraser (Kutztown) and KJ Uyeno (Winthrop).

Playing against college teams last year was both challenging and enjoyable. The games consisted of good sportsmanship and competitive softball. I learned a lot and had great experiences!

-Jamie Jang, Class of 2017

This year’s tour will include past schools such as the Adelphi University Panthers, the Kutztown University Bears while adding the University of New Haven Chargers, the Marshall University Thundering Herd, the Kentucky Christian Knights and the Morehead State Eagles. The full schedule can be found below while this year’s try-out schedule for the Midget 18U team will be posted by the end of this week.