Softball Valley gearing up for Senior ‘A’ provincials

By Lethbridge Herald on July 7, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Some of the province’s top female and male softball teams are set to take to the diamonds at city’s Softball Valley this weekend for the Softball Alberta Senior ‘A’ Slo-Pitch Provincial Championships in hopes earning a spot in next year’s national championships.

“Often times when we bid on these, the teams want to come play here because the quality of the fields and just the whole atmosphere of the park is so good for these events,” said Hank Stoffer, Softball Valley facility manager.

“Sport tourism wise, we bring in a couple hundred thousand I’m gonna guess for the city.”

A local men’s team, who are known as the Valley team, were a big driver in getting the championship to Lethbridge.

“A lot of their players were playing with other teams throughout the province and throughout the country and they decided to get together and comeback and play,” said Stoffer.

“They’re gonna be some of the better players within the country and they were a big push for us to bring the event back here.”

Stoffer hopes the championships will help attract more younger male players to participate in the sport in the future as that has been a struggle.

“We have such a strong baseball background, but it almost seems like they (young male players) get to a certain age and stop playing altogether,” said Stoffer.

“That’s another reason why we wanted to host the event (is) to try to maybe get some of those baseball players to come down and see … a recreation side to this sport but also come and see at the top level what kind of a game this is.”

The championship is from July 11-13 with 10 ladies teams and eight men’s teams competing.

The last time Softball Valley hosted a high-calibre event was national championships in 2018 and a provincial championship in the same year.

Admission is free for spectators and games begin Friday afternoon and go all day Saturday and Sunday.

For those interested players in joining or starting an ‘A’ team next year are encouraged to reach out to Softball Valley.