Canada Win’s Bronze

Since the start of the Canada Cup played at Softball City in South Surrey, the focus was on development, skill and growing the National program, starting with the youth.

We have gotten to know Mark Smith who has given his heart and sole for the betterment of the program with some years being better than others, but he stuck with the program.

Players have growen into first class athlete’s and while the team has changed putting a team on the field while working the Pandemic has been a struggle for everyone.

While questions arose about the games and still do, Canada has assembled a solid team of Athletes who worked tireless hours to achieve their life-long dream.

Dreams do come true and watching the Canadian Women’s Softball team make history winning Canada’s first Olympic medal on a rain driven, windy diamond made it all worthwhile. 

Playing at the Yokohoma Stadium in Tokyo Canada defeated Mexico 3-2 to capture bronze on Tuesday.

Canada opened the scoring when Victoria’s Emma Entzminger (3rd base) hammered a two-out single scoring two runs in the bottom of the second starting things off. 

Mexico never gave up and fought a hard fight managing to tie the game in the fifth with a two-out hit by Suzannah Brookshire.

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For the most part Canadian teams are known for making impressive comebacks that saw both Janet Leung and Victoria Hayward beat out throws to first setting up Canada to score. 

Larissa Franklin stepped up having runners on first and second and no out’s laid bunt advancing both runners to second and third.

Harshman (24) hit a sacrifice fly to left field allowing Leung to cross home for the game winning run.

Some were questioning the weather during the game considering the wet weather conditions they were playing in that saw all pitchers from both sides ask for new softballs. 

In a story that many wondered her playing ability it was a short three years ago that Sara Groenewegen was given a three per cent chance to survive after contracting Legionnaires disease. 

We have had many conversations with White Rock resident who has alway’s been nothing but professional at all times and it was a pleasure to see her take the mound to start the game. 

While Sara started it was nice to see Danielle Lawrie take the mound as the closer, remembering all too well that she was with the team in 2008.

As you can expect after the final out Canada burst from the dugout in celebration, which for some was 13 years in the making.

Kelsey Harshman, second base who drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth mentioned “It’s great to be part of these moments.” 

She continued “But these moments aren’t possible without those who are playing next to each other, so we just wanted to take a moment to really just think about all the stuff that we’ve overcome to get to this moment and to be able to relive that moment over and over.”

The journey wasn’t without concern and as we reflect back both Glen Todd and Greg Tim stood firm that Women’s Fastpitch should return to the Olympics’.

Glen started as a coach in South Surrey/White Rock, them was elected as President and from their the rest is history as he was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame as a Builder in 2008 and

Softball returned to the Olympic program for the first time since Beijing 2008 as a special one-off because the sport is popular in Japan. It is not included in events for Paris in 2024. 

Canada is one of four countries that has qualified for all five Olympic tournaments along with Japan, the U.S. and Australia.

For head coach Mark Smith, the moment couldn’t have been sweeter after he told CBC Sports prior to the Olympics he’d be retiring at the end of the Games. 

Head Coach Mark Smith calls Falmouth NS home in the off-season if there is such a thing has been head coach since 2009 for the Canadian Women’s National Softball Team. 

He won a world championship gold as a player for Canada in 1992 and also won two world championship Bronze medals coaching the Women’s National Team in 2010 and 2016. 

Smith made an impassioned plea for softball to become a core Olympic sport on his way out, citing the parity of the tournament in particular.

He continued by saying “From my perspective, it was absurd that it was ever taken out. I think it’s more than made its case for why it should be in. And I believe that had COVID not existed, you would have had packed stadiums to watch this game played.”

Mexico, finished fourth in their debut at the Olympics and also made history by finishing fourth, which is the best debut by a softball team in their first Games.

The Canadian team competing in Tokyo included four players who were on that last Olympic team which finished fourth at Beijing 2008 and are Langley’s Daniel Lawrie, Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph), Lauren Regula (Trail) and Port Coquitlam’s Jenn Salling.

Early in 2021, this current group of Canadian softball players decided they would leave their family and friends back home because of pandemic restrictions to train in the United States. 

For part of the time they set up camp in Florida. Then they spent time training in Illinois, playing important exhibition games. 

Smith said the bronze medallists embodied the idea of team.

“To watch how they have stepped up and developed, especially from a resilience standpoint over the last year and a half in the pandemic and all of the challenges that we’ve all encountered in our individual lives. This team just didn’t miss a beat,” Smith said.

Canada lost to the U.S. and Japan by one run in both games and while they might think about what might have been, the team was still able to grab the country’s first medal ever in the sport at the Games. 

“It would have been a travesty in my opinion had we not gone home with a medal, because we worked too hard and these women gave up too much not to be in the position they were in, and thank goodness things worked out for them.”

Japan won its second straight gold medal, beating the United States 2-0 and adding to its victories of 1996, 2000 and 2004.

This was the culmination of years of hard work.  Team Canada did us proud.  Congratulations

and thank you ladies. 

Jenna Caira – Toronto, Ontario

Emma Entzminger – Victoria, B.C.

Larissa Franklin – Maple Ridge, B.C.

Jennifer Gilbert – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Sara Groenewegen – Surrey, B.C.

Kelsey Harshman – Delta, B.C.

Victoria Hayward – Toronto, Ontario

Danielle Lawrie – Langley, B.C.

Janet Leung – Mississauga, Ontario

Joey Lye – Toronto, Ontario

Erika Polidori – Brantford, Ontario

Kaleigh Rafter – Guelph, Ontario

Lauren Regula  – Trail, B.C.

Jennifer Salling  – Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Natalie Wideman – Mississauga, Ontario

Alternates: Karissa Hovinga — Edmonton, Alberta; Callum Pilgrim — Abbotsford, B.C.; Morgan Rackel — Calgary, Alberta.

Coach Mark Smith, Foulmouth, Nova Scotia.

Photos by D. Laird Allan from the Sportswave photo archives.