Pitcher will play for Canada’s
under-18 women’s softball team
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Emma Frisky will play for Canada’s under-18 women's national team. |
The skill right-handed pitcher, who will turn 16-years-old on March 10, was named to Softball Canada’s Under-18 Women’s National Team that will play in the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation Americans Pan Am Championship slated to run March 30 to April 6 in Monteria, Colombia. While the official announcement of the Canadian roster came out on February 26, Frisky is still pretty awestruck by the news.
“It is kind of surreal still,” said Frisky. “It is a great
honour to wear the leaf and represent my country.
“It has been a great since I was a little girl. It feels
great that it is coming true.”
Playing on
one of Softball Canada’s national teams has been a lifelong aspiration for
Frisky. She began playing the sport at age four when her family was located in
her original hometown in Tisdale.
Frisky
played lots of minor softball for the Spirit program in Melfort. At the 2022
Under-15 Girls Canadian Fastpitch Championship held on the Gordie Howe Sports
Complex grounds in August of that year, Frisky was named the all-star pitcher
playing for the Spirit.
From about
age seven or eight, she also began training with the 222’s Fastpitch program in
the late summer, fall and winter months at a young age and has been a member of
their travel teams for about four years.
About two years ago, her family relocated to Martensville, which allowed Frisky to play her first season with the Twin City Angels program last year. Frisky, who stands 5-foot-8, helped the Angels win a provincial title and appear in the Under-15 Girls Canadian Fastpitch Championship help last August in Brandon, Man.
Even to this point in her young life, Frisky has gained numerous positive experiences from the sport of softball.
“All my best friends have come from this sport,” said Frisky, who also plays third base and shortstop when she is not pitching. “I’ve learned so many life lessons.
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| Emma Frisky chats with a 222’s Fastpitch teammate. |
In her
current Grade 10 school year, Frisky spent the first semester attending Tommy
Douglas Collegiate, where she did further softball training at the Tigers
Softball Academy overseen by Trevor Ethier and Don Bates. She is taking her
second semester of studies at Martensville High School.
She said
the biggest influences she has had helping her along in the sport have come
from the 222’s and the Tigers programs.
“I’d say the Twos (222’s Fastpitch) program has been my
biggest influence,” said Frisky. “I liked all my coaches when I was younger
growing up that have pushed me in this direction.
“A big shout out to Dean Holoien and Keith Mackintosh and
“Rayzor” (Ryan) Ray, and then at the softball academy Trevor Ethier and Don
Bates.”
Mackintosh,
who is one of the 222’s veteran instructors and head coach of Canada’s under-18
women’s team, said Frisky had a great compete level and strives to get better.
The veteran field boss, who is a member of International Softball Congress Hall
of Fame, said Frisky excels at the sport for a number of reasons.
“I just think her work ethic has got her to the point where she throws with velocity,” said Mackintosh. “Her spins are great.
“She is very mature for her age in that regard. I really think the number on thing that probably makes Emma who she is as a player is her compete level. She just wants to play softball.
“She wants to win for her teammates. She is an unbelievable teammate that way.”
Frisky’s
fastball has gotten up to 64 miles per hour, which is impressive for someone about
to turn 16-years-old. She also had great control of her rise ball, drop curve
and change up.
Mackintosh
said Frisky deserves to be on the under-18 national team, and the coaches
decided to take her and a couple of other players that are the same age as her
having an eye to the future. If Canada finishes in the top five of the WBSC
Americans Pan Am Championship, the squad advances to the WBSC Under-18 Women’s
Softball World Cup Group Stage.
The World
Cup Group Stages have been awarded to Sao Paolo, Brazil (Group A – July 23-27),
Pingtan, China (Group B – August 14-18) and Dallas, Texas, in the United States
(Group C – August 29 to September 2). If Canada is successful in the group
stage earning a spot to the under-18 worlds in 2015, the 2006 born players who
are on Canada’s roster at the moment will fall off.
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| Emma Frisky’s fastball can hit 64 miles per hour. |
“We just thought we’re going to take some young players and
give them a taste of international competition to see how they do, and then we
know exactly where we are at a year and a half down the road,” said
Mackintosh.“That was part of it.
“She (Frisky) earned her way on. She had a great camp. She
had a great summer season.
“I’m really proud of the development she has had over the
last couple of years. She just deserved to be there.”
Mackintosh
believes Frisky has the potential to play softball at the highest levels long
into the future.
“I think the sky is the limit for her,” said Mackintosh.
“You look at the age of our senior national team going into an Olympic year in
2028 it is going to be a fairly older team.
“I think that the next generation of players that are coming
up of that age group Emma is definitely one of those players that she could be
wearing the maple leaf for a very long time. The hope is she goes to a good
school in the States.I just think the upside to her and her career is
unlimited.”
Frisky said
she wants to follow in the path of her favourite player in Jorde Chartrand.
Chartrand is an ace right-handed pitcher and power hitter with the NCAA
Division I University of North Carolina Greensboro Spartans Women’s Softball Team in Greensboro, N.C.
A Weyburn,
Sask., product, Chartrand spent a number of years playing in Saskatoon and
training at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. She suited up for Softball Canada’s
Senior National Women’s Team in 2022.
“Jordy (Jorde) Chartrand is my biggest idol,” said Frisky.
“I look up to her.
“When she made the national team, that was kind of
inspiration. To see her live her dreams kind of helped push me to get there
myself.”
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| Emma Frisky takes part in a bunt defence drill. |
“It is coming up pretty quick,” said Frisky. “It is really
exciting.
“I’m super excited to go down there and meet all the girls.
It is going to be an awesome experience.”
