History
UTM Fastpitch is proud of our history. As our program continues to grow we felt it was important to capture some of our bigger moments. * This page is still in development 08/13/2020
2015
Fall
- Summer 2015, a decision was made to forge a new organization in an attempt to cast a wider swath from which to draw players. Capitalizing on the "UTM Softball Information" website, this new U16 Tier 1 team was promoted and marketed towards the end of the summer 2016 season.
- Rick Ellis, was hired as the first coach in UTM Fastpitch history in August, following some meetings talking about goals for the program.
- Labour Day September 2015 UTM was the first oganization to hold a tryout and drew over 30 players to the Kinsmen diamonds in Cambridge. Following two additional tryouts the team was finalized.
- Athletes from Kitchener, Cambridge, Brantford, Six Nations, London, Alvinston and more comprised the first ever U16 team. This group participated in several weekends of fall ball, one of the most memorable was a cold Saturday afternoon playing friends from Palmerston... following the games in the snow, the team & parents went to Bingeman's to watch the Blue Jays play in the ALCS vs the Royals.
2016
Winter
- The U16 program began indoor training at the brand new Playball Academy Sunday afternoons over the winter months. The athletes continued to develop relationships as for most of the group it was their first time playing with this new group of talented players. In addition to the training in Kitchener, the U16 program used a high school in Ingersoll to complement the sessions at Playball.
Spring
- In preparation for the 2017 summer season, the program attended MacMaster University for their Altitude team building program
- Uniforms in our associations RED/BLACK/WHITE were made and presented to the team following the team building event
- UTM hosted several 5x5 training events in Kitchener to prepare for the season
Summer
- UTM hosted our 1st Early Bird Tournament, located at the Packam Sports Field Complex in Stratford
- UTM hosted our first fundraising tournament called the "Big Show" for U14, at the same fields in the summer heat
- Our U16 program placed 2nd overall in the 14U Motor City Showdown Event in Canton, in addition to several other medal winning weekends.
- UTM co-hosted provincials with Palmerston & Waterloo, at the event our U16 program also qualified for the summer games held in Mississauga. Later that month, our team placed won bronze at the Ontario Summer Games.
Fall
- Rick Ellis agreed to return as the coach of the U16 program once again. A second team (first year U16) was attempted... but after two tryouts the decision was made to consolidate the athletes again into one combined team.
- An agreement was made to field a second team, what was then U18 in Eastern Ontario. The team led by Douglas Kane, was named UTM East
- The U16 program attended several fall showcase tournaments, including a memorable rainy weekend in Syracuse, a crazy hotel stay in Detroit, as well as an amazing opportunity to play NJCAA SUNY school Herkimer College.
2017
Winter
- Training of the U16 program was moved to Blue Chip Sports in Kitchener, and the athletes & parents travelled each week in the snow to become a better team
- UTM continued to host 5x5 tournaments at PlayBall Academy with the help of the Brantford Bobcats leaders
- UTM partnered with Silverstar Sports & Entertainment to offer the March Madness Tournament at the Barrie Sports Dome
Spring
- A 3rd affiliate was added just prior to the commencement of the outdoor season. This program was dubbed UTM 905, and was a U18 Tier 1 team (formally Edge Fastpitch)
- An injury to a key team member forced the U16 program to go on a player search just before the season, thankfully one was found and the team went forward with 11 healthy players
Summer
- The U18 Eastern program placed in many tournaments over the summer months (Barrie, Syracuse, Stratford)
- The U16 Tier 1 program won gold in Waterloo, and placed well in countless other events
- Both of the above teams travelled to the Quebec Rebelles event, played in days of countless rain showers, and experienced the grossest moth infestation ever seen!
- The U16 team had Coach Anadio from Herkimer guest coach at 2 events in the summer including the Rebelles tournament
- U16 program fell short one game from qualifying for Nationals, loosing a heartbreaker to Vaughan's talented 02' group
- The U18 East program medalled at provincials
Fall
- A new leader for the now U19 program was hired, Trevor Botting replaced Rick Ellis
- A second area U19 was created via a joint partnership with the Brantford Bobcats. It was named UTM Brantford, and remains to this day
- Randy Drover, became the coach of our U16 2K2 program. Under his leadership this team travelled and had many successes in 2017 Fall Ball
- Doug Kane retired, and Dan Crosby & Scott Morrow became the new leaders of our U19 Eastern Ontario program
2018
Winter
- Teams trained to prepare for the upcoming 2018 season.
- U16 2K2 trained in the Halton Hills area, while the U19 Brantford group was able to get space at Risings Stars facility in Brantford
- UTM ramped up plans to add to our host tournaments. Rock the Park, Big Show U12, were added to the summer slate and registrations started to flow in
Spring
- With the help of the Brantford Bobcats, UTM teams participated in a couple of indoor tournaments in Kitchener-Waterloo
- Our 2K2 program also went on an amazing trip over the Valentine's Day weekend to Las Vegas, Nevada
Summer
- The 2K2 program led by Randy Drover had a very successful summer winning several medals at summer tournaments across the province
- 2K2 program fell shy of reaching Nationals, but then played their hearts out winning a silver medal at the Grand Championships held in Cambridge
- Our Brantford group worked hard over the summer, and experienced some nice successes along the way. For this 1st year developmental program things went well
- Our U19 team ended the year with a couple of top performances, one of note was the team's success in Barrie at the Bash
- Our Eastern Ontario team succeeded at provincials as well with some amazing games, winning a provincial medal as well
Fall
- The U19 Tier 1 program was a victim of players and families looking in other directions and the group was shut down following the first tryout Labour Day Monday
- A new U19 Tier 2 leader in Brantford was welcomed. Bill Kuntz took over the leadership of this program
- A new U19 program was launched in Morriston under the leadership of Jason Saker.
- In the East a new leadership team was in place as well as David MacCallum and Greg Arkwright came to the program after leaving the Whitby Softball organization
- A new U16 Tier 1 program was formed under the leadership of Jason Shackell, based in Kitchener-Waterloo this team was made up mostly of athletes from the local community
2019
Winter
- Teams worked out over the winter in Whitby, Brantford, Cambridge and Guelph
- Schedules and tournament plans were finalized as everyone was looking forward to a big season
Spring
- Some of the UTM teams attended the Seneca Dome Tournament in February
- UTM Brantford, and 2K4 programs attended the London Lightning tournament in April indoors. This is an amazing facility if you ever get the chance!
- Several UTM players guest played with teams that went to Las Vegas, and Orlando
Summer
- 2K4 program secured the organization's first ever bid to a Canadian Championship, with an excellent qualifier tournament in Stratford
- Our Brantford U19 team won gold at two summer events, including the Rock the Park event.
- UTM hosted the U19 Qualifier site A, and our Morriston team medalled at this event
- Our Morriston and Eastern Ontario teams qualified for the "A" provincial championships in their first year in the U19 program
Fall
- Our expansion continued as we added a new program based in Durham, Windsor and Caledon
- We experienced our highest number of interested athletes across our 8 affiliated UTM teams
- Teams quickly engaged in some fall ball, including our Caledon affiliate who travelled to some great US events
2020
Winter
- Our Caledon team led a group of athletes to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando
- Several UTM teams attended the Seneca Indoor tournament
Spring
- All UTM teams were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic :(
- Teams halted training in early March
Summer
- Teams worked with their towns and municipalities to get the RTP document approved
- Most teams played pod games during the month of August