From THE CANADIAN PRESS
CARTAGENA, Colombia – Victoria’s Mike Piechnik was accepted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Piechnik was voted in at the ISF Congress which took place in Cartagena, Colombia this past week. The actual induction ceremony will take place in Canada at a later date.
Starting out as an outfielder with a strong arm and bat, Piechnik was amazed by the pitchers on his team and started to practice by pitching to his older brother Andy at home. His dedication to fitness and his strong work ethic quickly shaped his softball career as one of the top left-handed pitchers in the game.
He went on to win four Canadian championships (1991, 1992, 1997 and 2001) and earned numerous awards, including top pitcher (1990, 1993, 1995 and 1998) and top player of the championship round (1992 and 2001).
One of his major accomplishments was pitching back-to-back perfect games and pitching six games in two days to win gold at the 1993 Canadian Championship.
At the International level, Mike had the honour of being a member of the men’s national team program from 1987 to 1999, winning two Pan American Games gold medals (1995 in Argentina and 1999 in Winnipeg), and played in two ISF World Championships, winning gold in 1992 and silver in 1996.
He also played in three North American Challenge Cups, winning Gold in 1991 and Silver in 1992 and 1993, and was Most Valuable Pitcher and Most Valuable Player at the event in 1992.
