Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Pirates girls fastball

By Shane Clausing

Girls Fastball

Interest in Grande Prairie Pirates girls fastball growing after first season

Jun 17, 2021 | 7:15 PM

It’s been just over a year since the Grande Prairie Pirates girls fastball team decided to return to the field.

Prior to the summer of 2020 when the league returned, the Grande Prairie area had been without a fastball team to play on for 15 years.

In order to attract players to the fastball league, the Pirates hosted various free clinics at the County Sportsplex pitch, in order to teach the game to a new generation.

Last year, the league got onto the field and was able to complete a full season despite the COVID-19 restrictions.

Ashley Porterfield, the Executive Director of the Grande Prairie Pirates, says they’ve grown exponentially since they’ve relaunched the organization.

“Last year during COVID, we had 42 girls. This year we have 105 girls. We have a U8, two U10 teams, a U12 development for the new players, a U12 competitive for the travelling players, a U14 and U19 team.”

When asked if she was surprised by just how much the organization has grown in the last year and a half, Porterfield says she’s wasn’t, but is rather more excited because she gets to see the organization and sport continue to grow.

Porterfield added they did not lose any players from 2020.

The growth of the game has also allowed for the organization to reach out and host events. This summer, the club will host the U12 & U19 Girls Provincial Championships on August 20-22, 2021.

Porterfield mentioned there is also lots of interest from younger kids to get into fastball, softball or even baseball.

As a result, the Pirates have partnered with the Toronto Blue Jays “Jays Care” program.

“The Jays Care camp is through the Blue Jays foundation out of Toronto. It is an introductory program for kids to try softball,” explained Porterfield. “It’s a free program, so it’s great for parents to get their kids out and we’ve opened it up to boys or girls aged 4-19.”

The Blue Jays have provided the equipment for the camp, and they’ve trained 25 volunteer coaches who wanted to help run this program for the kids.

So far, 235 kids have registered to take part in the camp. The first session of the program is expected to begin on June 30 & July 1. It was initially supposed to take place in early June, but was delayed because of shipping delays with the equipment.

Anyone interested in participating in the program can do so by contacting the Grande Prairie Pirates on Facebook.