Fastball revival: Sport making comeback in rural southwestern Ontario communities

Once a fixture in every rural Southwestern Ontario town, the sport of fastball is making a comeback.

“Five years ago a bunch of fastball dads said, ‘You know what? We need to revive this sport for the kids again,’” said Charles Annett, who is co-coach of the Fingal Storm U20 team with Brent Dawdy.

In Fingal, a small community in Southwold Township, they’ve slowly brought the sport back. Just a few years ago they didn’t have any youth teams and now they have five.

“It feels really special,” says Benjamin Carr, 20, a shortstop for Fingal Storm U20.

“We get to play our home games on Thursday nights, and there’s a lot of kids that come out and watch us wearing a Fingal jersey. It feels cool to be a role model for them, and also to bring fastball back to these rural communities to represent Southwold and also the Municipality of West Elgin and everywhere else.”

This U20 squad is made up of players from all over the region, who came together just after the pandemic to form a team.

“It just feels great to see the sport coming back,” said Eric Van Maanen, the Storm Centrefielder.

“All the young kids playing here in Fingal now which I haven’t seen in a long time. For the longest time we were the youngest age group playing fastball.”

For anyone who hasn’t seen the sport at a high level, it’s a game of speed and power, played on a small field.

“It’ll be a very fast game compared to what you’re thinking of with MLB,” said Van Maanen.

“Everything’s so much closer and smaller. In my opinion, it’s faster and more entertaining to watch.”

The U20 group which started this revival five years ago, has qualified for the National Championship. They are currently competing in Saskatoon, Sask., with the finals being played Aug. 3.

“This is the first time headed to the Canadian National tournament, and we’re really fired up about it,” said Carr.

“We’re really close friends and we’ve been playing together for over six years now, so we built a good relationship with each other, and the chemistry’s good.”

Annett loves coaching these young men because they have an infectious energy.

“I like the young attitude they have,” said Annett.

“They come to the park every day trying to win ballgames, but they’re also learning at the same time. They listen well and they’re not afraid to try some adventurous things. Sometimes you got to rein them back in, but this group loves the game as much as the coaches do, and it’s kind of fun.”

The Storm will play six games before the playoffs begin.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience and they’re pretty pumped for it,” said Annett.