UFV should add softball to athletics department

Over the past couple of weeks, basketball, volleyball, and wrestling at UFV have wrapped up their seasons. While for some students, this means the winter semester is coming to a close, for the players on the men’s baseball team, this means they are close to starting their collegiate season. 

Last year, the UFV men’s baseball team won their first championship. This is surprising since the team has only been around since the 2017 season. While baseball has been a part of the UFV athletics department for a few years now, their success not only shows that UFV baseball was a great option; it also raises the question of whether or not UFV should implement women’s softball into their program as well. 

For those that do not know, baseball and softball are very similar sports. Baseball is more traditionally associated with men’s collegiate sports, while softball is a variation that is played by women at a collegiate level. The major difference being that baseball uses a smaller ball, called a hardball, while softball uses a slightly larger ball called a softball. 

One problem UFV would have implementing softball into their athletics program is that the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC), which is the league the men’s baseball team plays in, only organizes men’s hardball. That is okay, however, because the North West Athletic Conference (NWAC), a woman’s softball league that spans the west coast of America and Canada, would be the perfect league for the Cascades to join. 

Universities that UFV plays in other sports, such as Douglas College in volleyball, are part of the NWAC. With a similar student enrollment, Douglas was able to come in third last year in the North conference, during the regular season. Although this league would have women from UFV travel down the coast to play teams in the United States, it would be less driving for road trips than UFV’s basketball teams do to play their conference competitors. For example, away games for the basketball teams against the University of Manitoba Bisons take about 24 hours to travel to.

Another hurdle for the team would be to find a proper field to play on, since baseball and softball have slightly different playing surfaces. While the baseball team plays at DeLair Park, the best spot for the softball team would be Ellwood Softball Park in Abbotsford, since they are about a 10-minute drive from the Abbotsford campus. 

With this year’s baseball season just around the corner, the chance UFV could pull together a softball team is highly unlikely. However, following this year, it makes sense that UFV’s athletics department would at least consider adding softball. Baseball has shown that there is a demand for summer sports at UFV, and with a successful men’s program already at the university, a competitive American league just across the border, and a field that is close to the university campus, softball at UFV would be perfect.

Nic Jackson

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