Softball Canada Announces 2014 Award Winners

(Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce the following award winners who will be recognized at the Softball Canada Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet on November 15^th, 2014 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The Banquet will be held in conjunction with the Softball Canada Congress and Annual General Meeting, which will take place from November 12-15. As previously announced, Ron Cooke (Official, New Brunswick), Frank Hughes (Official, Prince Edward Island), Donald R. MacDonald (Builder, Nova Scotia), Nancy Morrison (Official, New Brunswick) and Kevin Quinn (Builder, Prince Edward Island) will be inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame during this Banquet.
                                                                     
The Home Run Sports Coach of the Year award will be presented to John Hill from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. John’s success as a coach is highlighted by the three straight Senior Men’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championships won by his team, 3Cheers Pub Bud Light, from 2012-2014 including a silver medal in 2011. Since 2011, the team has achieved a record of 41-2. Not only has John been a leader on the field, but he was an essential component in their fundraising efforts so the team could attend and compete at the Canadian Championships.
 
Sandra Allan, from Fredericton, New Brunswick has been selected as the recipient of the Home Run Sports Umpire of the Year award. Sandra has been actively umpiring since 2003, and after receiving her level V certification in 2013, she continued to be active on the field this summer, working over 100 games at several provincial and regional events. She served as Umpire Supervisor at two provincial tournaments and was the umpire liaison at the U16 Boys Canadian Fast Pitch Championships.
 
The Rose Hodgson Volunteer of the Year award will be presented to Bev Adams from Rusagonis, New Brunswick. Bev has served as President of Softball New Brunswick since 2005 and continues to be a major contributor to Softball New Brunswick and Softball Canada. Throughout her many years of involvement in softball, she has played an important role with Softball Canada as a Learn to Play program coordinator, a Canadian Championship supervisor and has attended several Softball Canada Annual General Meetings.
 
This year’s recipients of the Claude Deschamps Memorial Fund are Kristen Byrne from St. John, New Brunswick and Alex Harding from Woodlands, New Brunswick.
 
Kristen Byrne, a first-year Bachelor of Arts student at the University of New Brunswick with the intention of pursuing her studies in Law, graduated from Harbour View High School in St. John, New Brunswick in June. She has competed in provincial championships every year since 2006 and has been a member of the Saint John Spartans travel team since 2009, as well as representing New Brunswick at two Canadian Championships (2010 and 2013).
 
Alex Harding recently began a one-year degree in Business Management at the Atlantic Business College. A member of the Fredericton Birdstairs Twins intermediate softball team from the Fredericton Fastpitch Association, he is a two-time provincial champion (U16 Boys in 2011 and Men’s Intermediate in 2013) and was also a member of Team New Brunswick at the U21 Men’s International Championship held in Saskatoon in 2013, helping his team to the consolation championship.
 
The Ethel Boyce Memorial Award will be awarded to Brielle McCullough from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Johnathan Baker from Kitchener, Ontario.
 
Brielle McCullough is in her first year at Simon Fraser University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Health Sciences. As a player, she is entering her first season as a member of the Simon Fraser Clan and was also a member of the Saskatoon Scotiabank U18 Selects who won Gold at the 2013 U18 Women’s Canadian Championship and also competed in the same event in 2014, finishing fourth.
 
Johnathan Baker recently began his second year of a Bachelor of Arts in Sport Management at Brock University. He was a member of the Stratford Cubs U21 Men’s team of the Ontario Amateur Softball Association and also represented Team Canada as a member of the Junior Men’s National Team that competed at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championship in Whitehorse, YT.
 
The Softball Canada Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet will be streamed on Softball Canada’s website starting at 8:00pm AST (9:00pm EST) on Saturday, November 15. The video will also be available on Softball Canada’s Google+ and YouTube pages to be viewed anytime.
 
Congratulations to all of this year’s award winners!