If women’s softball returns to the Summer Olympics, as hoped within the sport for Los Angeles 2028, Ruby Anderson of Saanichton could be there throwing fireballs. The 16-year-old pitcher started and took the win over the weekend by allowing one run on two hits and with one strikeout over three complete innings as Canada began its Tokyo Olympics Celebration Tour with a 6-2 victory over the Netherlands in Guelph, Ont.
It was Canada’s first game since winning the bronze medal last summer in the Tokyo Olympic Games with Emma Entzminger of Victoria delivering the key hit in the third-place final played in Yokohama.
Ten months later, the veteran Entzminger contributed a single in the opener against the Netherlands. Entzminger, a versatile infielder, is among six returning players from the Olympic bronze-medallist team.
Canada followed up with a 9-2 victory over the Dutch in Oshawa, Ont., and 3-1 and 7-4 victories in Brampton, Ont., with Anderson starting the latter game. It’s a remarkably sharp rise for the Island teen, who was noticed at a regional B.C. identification camp, and invited to the 32-player national selection camp this month in Brampton, where she made the cut and was named to the 20-player national team.
The softball Tokyo Celebration Tour follows the Canadian women’s soccer team Tokyo Olympics Gold Medal Celebration Tour, which included a game against Nigeria at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
The Tokyo Celebration Tour continues with the Canada Cup beginning Monday at Softball City in Surrey and concludes with Canada playing the Czech Republic in Saskatchewan from June 29 to July 1.
Women’s softball appeared in the Summer Olympics from Atlanta in 1996 to Beijing in 2008. It was picked up, along with men’s baseball, for Tokyo due to the interest in the sports in Japan. Because the French have little history with baseball or softball, the sports were dropped for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. With the strong cultural connection to the U.S., the two sports are pushing hard for inclusion at Los Angeles 2028. The final decision on the 28 sports to be included at L.A. 2028 will be made next year.
Even without the Olympics, there will continue to be international opportunities for Entzminger, Anderson and their Canada mates. Lambrick Park Secondary-graduate Entzminger, who starred in NCAA Div. 1 at San Jose State, was bronze medallist with Canada at the last world championships in 2018 at Chiba, Japan. Softball is also a Pan Am Games sport, the latter in which the Canadian women have won two gold medals, six silvers and a bronze between San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1979 and Lima, Peru in 2019. The 2023 Pan Am Games are in Santiago, Chile.
