Colborn combines love of softball and country life

Local star piles up awards with Lady Buffs in Texas

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Cadence Colborn sets to make a hit during game action.

Cadence Colborn couldn’t pass up a chance to go on a new journey in Texas when the opportunity combined two of her biggest loves – softball and country life.

After graduating from Tommy Douglas Collegiate in June of 2024, Colborn ventured down to Canyon, Texas, to play for the West Texas University A&M Lady Buffs Softball Team in the NCAA Division II ranks. While Colborn grew up as a softball standout in Saskatoon, she would travel with her family to do work on the family farm outside of town. It was a place where Colborn always felt like she was home.

When she was with presented the chance to join the Lady Buffs playing out of a small city of just over 16,000 people in the northern part of Texas, Colborn couldn’t pass it up.

“I have a huge agriculture background,” said Colborn. “My dad is a farmer.

“I’ve grown up around the farm. I’m an animal science major, pre-vet major. It is just right up my alley.

“Everything is ‘yee-haw’ and cowboy hats. I also rodeo, so that is really cool too. Everything is rodeo down there.”

Colborn is back in Saskatoon playing for the CT&V Selects U19A team. The 18-year-old returned home after having a spectacular first season with the Lady Buffs. In 57 total games, Colborn, who plays first base, went 48-for-111 at the plate for a .432 average, nine home runs and 51 RBI.

She was named a second team All-Lone Star Conference all-star, to the Lone Star Conference All-Freshman team and a National Fastpitch Coaches Association South-Central Region second team all-star.

Along with piling up the awards, Colborn helped the Lady Buffs put up a 56-8 overall record. The Lady Buffs fell 2-1 in the best-of-three NCAA South Super Regionals to the University of Texas at Tyler Patriots for the right to advance to NCAA Division II College World Series. The Patriots would move on to claim a second straight NCAA Division II national title.

Cadence Colborn goes yard at nationals on August 3, 2024.

Being part and playing well in the Lady Buffs lengthy post-season run was a thrilling new experience for Colborn.

“It was awesome,” said Colborn, who stands 5-foot-7. “We talked a whole year about playing for a national championship, so we could kind of set ourselves up for that stage.

“In practice, we play harder than we do in the games. Practice is always harder. It was just unreal.

“I’ve never played on a stage like that. The fans are crazy.”

Growing up in Saskatoon, Colborn seemed destined to play softball for the longer term. She regularly went to games her father, Shawn, played in and remembers chasing down foul balls to make a little extra cash from the scorekeeper. She credits Shawn and her mother, Andrea, for being the biggest influences in helping her in the game.

“I grew up around the ballpark,” said Colborn. “I’ve just kind of been playing my whole life.

“It has just kind of been in the family. I was born with a ball in my hand. There are pictures of me with my dad’s ball glove on.

“I started T-ball when I was like five.”

When she started playing softball, Colborn was drawn to crushing the ball with the bat.

“I think hitting has always been my favourite,” said Colborn. “I love just swinging the bat and feeling the ball fly off the bat.

“I just like the atmosphere. I think it is fun. If you strike out or have a tough day at the plate, you can come back on defence.”

Colborn excelled at the sport as she grew up. Before she headed off to play for the Lady Buffs, Colborn gave hometown fans thrills playing for the provincial champion Saskatoon Prairie Dog Selects at Softball Canada’s Under-19 Women’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championship Tournament that ran July 31 to August 4, 2024 at the diamonds on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

Cadence Colborn takes up a defensive position at first base.

The Selects posted a 5-3 overall record, and Colborn was named a tournament all-star. At the plate, Colborn posted a .474 batting average and nailed three home runs. In the playoff round, she homered off Fraser Valley Fusion pitcher Morgan Reimer, who has been a regular in Softball Canada’s national team system.

Ryan Ray coached Colborn last season and is coaching her again this season in the Selects program. 

Having been part of high-level softball as either a player or a coach for almost his whole life, Ray was immediately impressed with Colborn.

“She is a very, very hard worker,” said Ray. “When she puts something in her mind, she does it.

“She works and works until she gets it done. It is not always easy to coach a player that is that driven, because they expect a lot out of you too. I love the challenge that she gives all the time, and it has always been enjoyable coaching her.”

Ray believes Colborn’s potential to go far in the sport is huge.

“The sky is the limit,” said Ray. “She can play in the Olympics.

“I firmly believe that she is a good enough hitter to do that, and her defence is getting better and better all the time. The sky is the limit for her. Whatever she puts her mind to, she will get.”

Originally, Colborn thought she would remain close to home when it came to playing post-secondary softball. That changed the deeper she got in her high school years.

“I started to really think about it when I was in Grade 11,” said Colborn, whose younger brother, Braeden, plays for the Saskatoon Giants Under-18 AAA Baseball Team. “I actually didn’t think I was going to go play college softball.

Cadence Colborn enjoys driving the ball deep.

“I wanted to stay home and go to the U of S (Saskatchewan). Then, a couple of my friends started signing. They’re older than me.

“Then, I was kind of like, ‘Yeah, I kind of want to go do this, and I think I could be good at it.’”

When she started playing for the Lady Buffs, Colborn said she had to adjust to how good the pitchers were, and her coaches worked with her regarding approaches at the plate.

“The pitching was unreal,” said Colborn. “I had never seen pitching like that.

“There were rise balls where they hit their spots. On the other side, our coach found ways to help us. We hit off the machine every day.

“The pitching was just unreal. They threw like 66, 67 and all the way up to like 72 (miles per hour). They mix their pitches, they mix paces, and they just really tried their best to get you out.”

On a personal front, Colborn was hoping to pick up an all-star award as a rookie. She wasn’t expecting a trio of all-star honours to come her way.

“It was just unreal,” said Colborn. “That was a goal going in was just to make a conference team.

“I made a conference team and a region team. I did not expect to be named a region player in my first freshman year, but that was just surreal. I was just grateful to even be nominated for the regional award.”

Now that she is back at home for the summer, Colborn is hoping to help the Selects have another big season. When the campaign with the Selects wraps up, she will play for Saskatchewan’s women’s softball team at the Canada Summer Games that runs August 8 to 25 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

While the NCAA is more open for movement than it ever has been with rule changes regarding the transfer portal in recent years, Colborn is planning to remain with the Lady Buffs, because that is where she feels most at home.

Cadence Colborn, left, is pictured after winning a provincial title.

“I like where I am at right now,” said Colborn. “It is great.

“It is good for my schooling as well. I will see what the future holds, but I definitely want to win a national championship. I think we have a really good chance at that next year, so I’ll be sticking around for the next couple of years until we win one.”

Shock’s Jaman in softball for life

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Haley Jaman sets for an at bat for the Shock.

Haley Jaman expects to be a softball lifer because of the people she’s met in the game.

The 20-year-old outfielder with the Saskatoon Shock and University of Saskatchewan women’s club team has been around the game for as long as she can remember beginning with watching her older sister, Jocelyn Jaman, play the sport. From that start, Haley Jaman began playing tee-ball at around age five and proceeded to grow up playing through the ranks of Saskatoon’s minor softball system.

“Half the girls that I am still friends with today I started playing ball with since we started playing zone ball,” said Jaman, whose Shock will play in Softball Canada’s women’s nationals that run August 10 to 14 at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. “We’ve grown up together, and we still keep in touch.

“In the winter, you kind of drift apart, but once summer starts, you are back together with your friends again. I think that was the biggest thing. I love the game.

“I love the competitiveness. Obviously, I love it enough I want to share it with other people. Definitely, the people and the connections I’ve made were like the best part about it.”

The connections have gone beyond those she’s made with her teammates over the years. Jaman has gotten a taste of the coaching side of the game for about the past five years. While attending high school at Centennial Collegiate, Jaman took part in the softball academy at Tommy Douglas Collegiate.

Through the softball academy at Tommy Douglas, Jaman completed a coaching component in Grade 10 that had her work with kids at various schools around the city, and she realize she liked that aspect of the game. Jaman got a little more involved with coaching when longtime elite level coach and player Jon Equina asked her to come out and help with various camps.

Haley Jaman, right, explains a drill to some players.

“I started evaluating and doing stuff for Team Sask for winter programs and had coaches approach me asking if I would come run like little camps with their own team,” said Jaman, who has coached with JQFP Softball and the Saskatchewan North Central Softball Academy. “This winter I took a Hustlers team, and I kind of helped out a little bit – a B team.

“I feel like it is very rewarding to see more of a progression. It has been something I knew I wanted to do since I was a kid.”

So far during her coaching, Jaman has noticed there are times young female players are more receptive to pick up a teaching point, if it comes from a female coach. As a player, she said she has times where she’s picked up pointers and messages from a female coach, which sometimes weren’t picked up when a male coach delivered those same pointers and messages.

“I think that is kind of the cool thing that the girls have someone closer to their age and a girl to relate to,” said Jaman. “That is exactly why I do it.

“Eventually, I want my own team, and I want to coach a team all summer. For now, I like just floating and helping when I can.”

Equina, who is the Shock’s head coach, has enjoyed coaching and coaching with Jaman over the years.

“Coaching Haley (Jaman) is an absolute treat,” said Equina. “She works hard every single time she comes out to the park.

“Whatever you tell her, she is definitely open minded to try it whether she has never tried it before. She is the kind of player and coach that she is willing to try different things in order to see different results. She is definitely ready to go outside the box in a lot of things player and coach.”

Haley Jaman patrols the outfield for the Shock.

Equina said he has been keeping his eye out for players that are coming up through Saskatoon’s minor softball system who he thinks might make good coaches. He thought Jaman would be great in that role as she brings a great positive energy when she interacts with others.

“My biggest thing as a coach is I am trying to get the next generation of coaches now in line,” said Equina. “I’ve been doing this for over 22 years and the same with the other guys that are with me and older.

“Now, it is the next generation, and the females especially that we need to get involved coaching. With her in mind, it was just perfect, because she loves helping out. She loves volunteering.

“Now being able to properly coach or how to coach was the big thing, and she has learned so well. She is excited to do it every time. Passion is something you can’t really teach.”

While she has been piling up the experiences on the coaching front, Jaman is still pumped for the opportunities she gets to play. After graduating from Centennial Collegiate in 2019, Jaman exhausted her eligibility for under-19 level ball as teams played an exhibition schedule locally in 2020 due to measures that were in place to battle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world.

Jaman had been playing out of the Hustlers zone and was part of group of players that didn’t want to be split up among the adult teams that existed in the city. Jaman and her Hustlers teammates joined up with a group of similar aged players from the Lazers zone to form the Shock, who had a handful of roster spots filled by players from other programs.

Equina agreed to be the Shock’s head coach and the team hit the diamonds from there.

Haley Jaman demonstrates a diving catch drill as a coach.

“The girls we played with we didn’t want to go play on random teams,” said Jaman. “We made our own team with ‘Queens’ (Equina).

“He is our coach, and that is how we got to stay playing together. One of the coaches actually came up to me and told me that the U of S has a team. Last year, I played with the U of S, and it was like a totally different experience.

“They were so cool. It was like just a little bite of what you get to do in college, but like playing just at home.”

The Shock won Softball Saskatchewan’s under-23 A provincial title sweeping a best-of-three series 2-0 over the Saskatoon Sabres. The Shock closed out the set with a 5-0 victory in Game 2 on July 9 at Bob Van Impe Stadium.

At nationals, the Shock will play in the women’s draw as there weren’t enough teams committed across the country to play an under-23 national championship tournament.

Jaman said she has never played in a Softball Canada nationals at home, so she is pumped for that opportunity this year. Besides having the support of family and friends in the stands, Jaman said a number of the girls she coaches want to come watch her play.

“I think that is going to be a really big difference this year that is going to work to our advantage having people to watch us,” said Jaman. “All my little girls (I coach) they already ask, ‘Send us your schedule.’

“All their parents want to know when we are playing, because they want to come support us. It works both ways. It is good for us, but then it is good for them to see this different level of ball.”

Haley Jaman plans to be involved in softball for a long time.

After this season is complete, Jaman wants to keep playing for softball as long as she can at any type of level. When she feels like she can no longer play, Jaman plans to focus even more time and attention on coaching.

“Once I kind of feel like my time playing is done like I said, I want my own team,” said Jaman. “I want to be able to grow with a group of girls and see them from where they started and kind of take them the way I’ve had a coach.

“I’d like to do that. In that way, I definitely just want to keep helping out. My kids will play.

“They don’t have a choice. They’ll play ball, so they’ll get a coach from their mom.”