World event lets city shine — even in rain
BY JEANETTE STEWART, AND KATHRYN WILLMS,
THE STAR PHOENIX
Australian players swarm pitcher Adam Folkard as they celebrate their 5-0 win over New Zealand in Sunday’s final of the ISF world softball championship. Photograph by: Greg Pender, The Star Phoenix
Rain couldn’t take the sparkle off the diamond during Sunday’s final day of the International Softball Federation world men’s softball championship in Saskatoon.
Australia won the championship 5-0 over New Zealand as Aussie pitcher Adam Folkard tossed a no-hitter, but Sunday’s games — including Canada’s 8-5 loss to New Zealand in the semifinal — only went on because of the hard work of some two dozen volunteers who got the field back in shape with rakes and wet-dry vacuums after a morning downpour.
Those volunteers were part of a contingent of 425 people who put in time during the 10-day international event.
Volunteer Ida Nerbas also remembers the last time Saskatoon hosted the men’s championship in 1988.
That year she coached a bantam girls’ team and all of the players volunteered with her. Some of those former players, now grown up, volunteered again this year.
“The roots of softball in this province are right here in the city,” she said.
Her grandson and children also put time into this year’s events. “It’s what we do as a family,” Nerbas said.
Tournament co-chair Keith McLean said more than half of the teams brought fans with them, and Saskatoon quickly made a positive impression.
“All of them came up and said how impressed they were with our city,” he said.
“People talked to them and knew what they were involved with. A quarter-million people, that’s the size of a city that can really do this type of thing. Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, it gets lost. Not here.”
Saskatoon Sports Tourism’s assessment was the tournament would have a $3-million impact on the city.
McLean says they likely reached that, and although the profit won’t be announced until fall when all the bills are paid and the audit done, he has every reason to be optimistic. He anticipates a “very substantial profit.”
“Our finance guy’s a banker,” says McLean. “He’s a very cautious guy and he started smiling on Friday. He was even smiling on Saturday and that was really impressive because he was at the Rider game. So he was happy. We’ll put money back into Saskatoon amateur and minor ball and the facility.”
Despite Sunday’s rain, the championship was blessed with excellent weather during the entire 10-day run, McLean said.
“We had the perfect weather. Every country in the world would love to have a tournament with the weather we had and the fans we had.”
Volunteer Donna Coates said part of the appeal of an international event is getting to talk to people from all over the world, including the players, who she says are approachable and willing to share their stories.
On Sunday, Justin Laskowski carried around an event program with the names of each Japanese ball player autographed above their photos. He spent the week as “bat boy” for the Japanese team
For the 11-year-old, the event has influenced his ball playing.
“I’ll try to play more like them,” he said.
Dale Trrey travelled to Canada with her husband and nine-year-old daughter to cheer on New Zealand.
They spent 10 days in Saskatoon, mostly watching ball but also shopping and riding the river boat cruise down the South Saskatchewan River.
“It’s a lot like home,” Trrey said. Her family members all play softball, and know some of the players from their club in Christchurch.
jstewart@sp.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix