The best young female softball players in Canada will be coming to Warman in the summer of 2025.
Warman was selected by Softball Canada to host the U17 Girls National Championship July 30 through August 3, 2025.
“It’s a big event,” said Twin City Softball Association (TCSA) President Heather Chatfield. “There will be about 15 teams from all across Canada. We sent in our application to host the nationals in December, and we found out we were successful in our bid in January.
“Warman has never hosted a national softball championship before, but with the diamonds at Prairie Oasis Park, we’ve got the facility to handle it, and we’re confident we can recruit enough volunteers from the community to make it a real success.”
Anyone interested in helping out with the national event can email tcapresident22@gmail.com .
Coincidentally, Saskatoon will be hosting the Canadian Women’s national softball championships that same week of July 30 to August 3, 2025.
Last summer, Warman hosted the U15B Saskatchewan provincial championship. Chatfield said with the six diamonds at Prairie Oasis Park, two of which have lights for night games, the facility is comparable to much larger centres.
Chatfield said the host Twin City Angels U17A team will have an automatic berth into the 2025 national championship. Last year, in 2023, the Twin City Angels U15A team won the provincial championship and represented Saskatchewan at the national championship in Brandon, Manitoba.
SOFTBALL PROGRAMS AMALGAMATED
There were some changes off the field over the winter for minor softball associations in Warman and Martensville.
The two organizations officially amalgamated in December, 2023 to form the Twin City Softball Association.
(The amalgamation does not include the adult slow pitch leagues in Warman and Martensville, which remain separate entities and distinct from the TCSA.)
“Last December marked a significant moment as the Twin City Angels, Warman Minor Softball Association, and Martensville Amateur Softball Associations merged, giving rise to the newly-formed Twin City Softball Association,” said Chatfield. “This amalgamation was driven by a number of factors, including: increased resources, enhanced competitive opportunities, streamlined administration, unified vision and direction, improved player development and community cohesion.”
Chatfield said the TCSA is preparing to host programming catering to children born between 2020 and 2007 (U5 to U17) for the 2024 season.
“Our offerings include co-ed or female options for U5, U7, U9 and U11 programs, while the U13, U15, and U17 programs are exclusively for females,” she said.
The deadline for the U13-U17 program closed several weeks ago, and registration for the U5 to U11 programs is Friday, March 15. Details for registration are online at www.twincityangels.com .
“Currently, we have 565 registered players for the 2024 season,” said Chatfield. “Those numbers will increase once registration for the younger age groups closes.”
The formal amalgamation of the two minor softball associations began ten years ago. In 2014, the Warman and Martensville minor softball associations shook hands on a deal to combine their Squirt, Pee Wee, Bantam and Midget Girls softball programs into a single partnership. They adopted the name Twin City Angels for the program, and began play in the Saskatoon Minor Softball Association.
The current merger of the two groups marks another step in the process of strengthening softball in the region, said Chatfield.
“The merger has been in the works for couple of years,” she said. “It makes sense for both communities. In many ways it’s similar to what the Sask Five Giants program did for the baseball program a few years ago, when players from both Martensville and Warman, and other communities in the area, combined into a single program.
“This way, everyone is all together in one association with one schedule. It avoids any confusion.
“We’re really looking forward to the start of the season in May.”