{"id":15008,"date":"2011-10-12T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T18:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=15008"},"modified":"2011-10-12T12:04:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T19:04:22","slug":"ben-wideman-named-to-canadian-national-softball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=15008","title":{"rendered":"Ben Wideman named to Canadian national softball team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/ben-wideman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/ben-wideman.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"ben wideman\" width=\"174\" height=\"268\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-15014\" \/><\/a><figure id=\"attachment_15011\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15011\" style=\"width: 102px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elmiraindependent.com\/news\/article\/101489\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/elmira.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"elmira\" width=\"102\" height=\"102\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15011\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15011\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click for complete news story and photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><em>Cap tip Blair Setford.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Chuck Kuepfer &#8211; Staff Reporter, Elmira Independent<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Ben Wideman is pumped.<\/p>\n<p>Wideman has been selected to Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national softball team, and will represent his country at the Pan American championships in Mexico next month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t get any higher as far as fastball goes,\u201d said the Elmira native, who plays outfield on the national squad. \u201cThis is like the NHL kind of thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Canada will be one of a number of countries from North, Central and South America in the mix at the VIII Pan American Men\u2019s Softball Championships, which also serve as a qualifier for the World\u2019s in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Hermosillo, Mexico is hosting the Pan American tournament that runs Nov. 18-26.<br \/>\nWideman, who currently plays with the Owen Sound Selects men\u2019s senior team, has been playing competitive ball since he was 13 years old.<\/p>\n<p>His previous international experience includes seven months in Australia, which was the highlight of his softball playing days.<\/p>\n<p>That was until he was informed of his selection to the national squad.<br \/>\n<span class=\"pullquote\">\u201cI was not expecting that kind of call,\u201d said Wideman. \u201cI\u2019m beyond exited.\u201d <span.\n\nHe had previously spoken with Don Bates, head coach of the national team, who had Wideman on the radar. \n\n\u201cHe said he\u2019s been watching myself and a number of guys since we were in junior, and was kind of waiting until spots opened up, guys retire, just don\u2019t perform, or that kind of stuff,\u201d he said. \n\nWideman, who is in his early \u201920s, is part of the national team\u2019s youth movement. The team also has a relatively new coaching staff. \n\n\u201cOverall, we\u2019re a pretty young bunch of guys that are going, kind of like the (Toronto) Blue Jays. We have a lot of skill, but you know we have a lot to learn about the game as far as getting team chemistry and all that. It\u2019s going to be one of the challenges for players and the coaching staff to try to learn everybody\u2019s niches.\u201d\n\nWideman has been \u201cgetting pumped\u201d about the tournament from exchanging emails back and forth with other players on the team, who are spread out across the country. He\u2019s also been working out with teammate Brandon Horn of Waterloo.\n\u201cWe throw the ball around as often as we can,\u201d said Wideman.\n\nHe\u2019s also has had the opportunity to \u201cpick the brain\u201d and work on his batting and fielding skills with former national team member Rob O\u2019Brien of Fergus.\n\u201cI\u2019m just lucky to have guys of that calibre around in the area,\u201d said Wideman.\nThere are only a few players on the national team he doesn\u2019t know very well, thanks to friendships he\u2019s made from playing at Canadian championships and world class tournaments over the years.\n\n\u201cI think that might have helped me as far as selection as well,\u201d said Wideman. \nThe Pan American tournament serves as the regional qualifier for the International Softball Federation XII Men\u2019s World Championship, to held in Auckland, NZ in March 2013.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elmiraindependent.com\/news\/article\/101489\">Click here to continue reading at the Elmira Independent.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cap tip Blair Setford. Chuck Kuepfer &#8211; Staff Reporter, Elmira Independent Ben Wideman is pumped. Wideman has been selected to Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national softball team, and will represent his country at the Pan American championships in Mexico next month. \u201cYou can\u2019t get any higher as far as fastball goes,\u201d said the Elmira native, who plays [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"category-players","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15008"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15015,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15008\/revisions\/15015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}