As this week’s column touches on two high calibre fastpitch tournaments, you will meet Patrick Stewart, his wife Petra, and their daughters, Sophie and ...
“You could look out towards rightfield and see today’s Yankee Stadium, it was actually not that far away, about a minute’s walk,” Patrick recalled. “We played at Heritage Field made up of three ball parks and a playground. One park was located on part of what was once ‘old Yankee Stadium,’ some interesting history for sure. New York Gremlins won the tournament, they are one of the best fastpitch teams in the world.
One of 13 teams competing in Surrey, the Mastodons finished round robin play with a 3-3 record. In their first playoff game, an extra inning 2-1 win over Grand Prairie, Schofield struck out 19. The Mastodons were eliminated from tournament play due to a loss to Newfoundland’s Gallway Hitmen, the 2022 national champs. Following his team’s fifth place tournament finish, coach Hopewell praised the performance of his young team and star pitcher Justin Schofield.
“The girls loved it, they each got to be batgirl for one game each day,” Petra said. “Overall, Sophie and Lainey were each batgirl for four games. It was something, the kids would even go out on the diamond and line up with all the players when the two teams shook hands after the game.”“Yes, that was something I really enjoyed about this years’ nationals in Surrey, B.C.,” Patrick said. “Having Sophie and Lainey along and them being our batgirls was really nice.