The Kiwis took part in a pair of International Softball Cup exhibition tournament games this week in Saskatoon, with Ice pitcher Katie Newberry suiting up for the Saskatoon Raiders in one of those contests.
The word? Verrry interesting.
“She pitched three innings and struck out nine batters, so she did pretty well,” said Ice assistant coach Paul Litzenberger with a laugh. “From what (head coach) Darren (Newberry) was saying, he saw two or three pitchers and they were all consistent. They throw hard but no harder than we’ve seen before, defensively they’re okay, and they have very aggressive hitters. They step up to the plate ready to swing the bat and that’s awesome. We kind of coach our girls the same way, be ready to swing, we’re looking to put the bat on the ball.
“So we’re similar and it’s going to be a great game and a lot of fun.”
The game came to fruition out of the first ISC tournament last year in Saskatoon, which saw the New Zealand Academy squad play a series of exhibition games around the city outside of the tournament itself.
Once word got out that New Zealand was coming back to Saskatchewan this year, the Ice coaches started looking into getting their team involved.
“We got hold of a guy in Saskatoon and he said he’d been scheduling some games, so we invited them to come on down and help us showcase our girls,” Litzenberger explained. “So it’s exciting and we’re looking forward to having a chance to play against them.”
Based on what Newberry showed, things could be interesting in the two contests – game times are 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Optimist Park -- especially when it comes to the aforementioned showcasing of talent.
“We’re going to be ready to go, and we have the pitchers to do it,” Litzenberger said. “We have five or six girls who can get the job done out there, and they’re not just throwing strikes anymore, they’re picking corners and things like that. That’s one of the things we’re excited about after Katie pitched the other night, we have girls like Cassie Montgomery, Camryn Rusu and Jasmine Kohl and Lauren Halverson, they’ve all be really good for us pitching so we’re really excited to see what they can do against that kind of an opponent.”
The big question, and one the Ice haven’t really considered at this point, is just what kind of a response they’ll have if and when the New Zealanders break out a Haka prior to the game.
There is precedent for that sort of thing.
“I’m hoping they do it,” Litzenberger said excitedly. “It would be cool if they did, you don’t get to see something like that all the time.”
Admission is $5 for adults, with children under 10 admitted free.
