Lethbridge Minor Softball Association looks to build on recent years of success

By Lethbridge Herald on April 19, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Heat U17 player Leigh Kowalchuk catches a ball at first base during practice at Miners field in this July 2022 file photo . Herald FIle photo Lethbridge Heat U17 player Leigh Kowalchuk catches a ball at first base during practice at Miners field in this July 2022 file photo. Lethbridge Minor Softball Association is wanting to build off of the success of last year’s Heat teams.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge Minor Softball Association are just weeks away from first pitch and are looking forward to using  their previous years success to build the sport in the city in 2023.

LMSA is wanting to build off of their Lethbridge Heat travelling teams provincial success from last season with the U17 club winning gold and the U15s winning silver in St. Paul.

“Well success always breeds interest,” said Tyler Fallwell, LMSA president.

“So the girls are having some fun, and they’re having some success and that inspires other people to at least come out and try it and hopefully we can grow from there.”

LMSA has upwards of 160 softballs players between that will fill out around 15 teams this season.

“We look pretty steady,” said Fallwell.

“There’s some incline in some of our age groups. But yeah it looks pretty good.”

LMSA is seeing the incline in the 12-to-14- year -old range. 

LMSA’s focus for the last number of years is for kids to come out and try the sport and having fun in the process.

“We still live by that and still want that to happen,” said Fallwell.

“But we would also like to see them to succeed at the provincial level and I think we’re starting to see that. So that’s our goal.”

LMSA always likes to see more players come out and there is always a need for more umpires.

“I think everybody, it doesn’t matter what type of ball … or whatever you’re playing, there seems to be a decline in the amount of umpires across the province,” said Fallwell.

“So there’s always a demand for that and of course we always like new players and coaches to come with them as well. We find we lose a lot of coaches and umpires to baseball.”

Fallwell is the new LSCA president this season and is looking at new opportunities for the local minor softball scene.

“We are looking at possibilities of certain duel certifications to open up some opportunities through Lethbridge Little League,” said Fallwell.

“All those kind of things are on the table. Basically, the season is so short that we want to give them as much of an opportunity to play and have some fun on the field.”

LMSA’s house league practices start next week with league play starting in two weeks, while the Heat teams will start in May.

The Heat begin try-outs this weekend

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