Softball association thankful for donation
From left: Cathy Brady (NGMSA Board Member), Gregg Fortushniok (NGMSA President), Doug Hamilton (Canada Summer Games Chairman), Simon Adamson (NGMSA Division Convenor). Submitted photos.
The 2022 Canada Summer Games ended months ago, but the legacy continues to live on.
The Niagara Girls Minor Softball Association recently received a generous donation of softball equipment, valued at around $10,000.
“It was fantastic and the amount of equipment was unbelievable,” league president Gregg Fortushniok said. “It was more than myself or any of the other members of the executive expected.”
The league was the recipient of the equipment as a thank you from the Canada Summer Games for the many hours of time volunteered at the women’s softball which was held at Southward Park in Grimsby.
“A lot of executive members and coaches put a lot of work into it and with the girls volunteering at the Canada Summer Games, it was a good experience,” Fortushniok said. “It was good ball and good to see the girls play.
“There was an overwhelming response to it.”
Fortushniok said the league received an impressive list of equipment including four hitting nets, two fungo nets, four smaller batting tees, two bigger tees, six compete sets of bases, over 100 whiffle balls, pitching machine balls and two pitching machines, one still in the box unused.
Fortushniok said the pitching machines, in particular, couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
“We try to buy pieces at a time,” he said. “The pitching machines we have needed some serious work. We have to get parts (new wheels, circuit boards) from Portland.
“As soon as we got this information, it was a saviour.”
Fortushniok was especially grateful to Games Chaiman Doug Hamilton and his wife Lynn Hamilton, who presented the association with the equipment.
“They are good people and right away they thought of us,” Fortushniok said. “They said they really appreciated that we keep girls softball going. A lot of centres have folded and we’ve gotten girls from Fort Erie and Welland. Lynn said she played fastball as a young girl in Grimsby and St Catharines.”
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