YORKTON - Canada placed third at the 2024 WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Group B qualifier in Prince Albert recently, which would normally have meant the team missed one of the two qualifying sports for the Word Championships in 2025.
Fortunately, Canada will host the 2025 event – in Prince Albert again – so are assured a berth as the host country.
Canada had made the playoff round in PA as the third seed finishing with a 3-2 record in round robin play, and started strong with an 8-0 victory over Singapore, but then lost 4-1 to perennial powerhouse New Zealand in the repechage game. Canada finished third.
Justin Laskowski – the lone Saskatchewan player on the version of Team Canada taking to the diamond in PA, said several players expected to be on the team in 2025 opted out for various reasons – Zach Pierce and Devon McCullough of Saskatoon among them.
“The roster was a bit more youthful and younger,” said Laskowski who had a two-run homer in the Singapore game. He added the changed roster gave some new faces a taste of the top softball at the international level.
It was also an opportunity for a veteran like Laskowski to hit the field with some fresh faces “a bunch of guys I hadn’t played with before.”
That said, being younger was not an excuse for the eventual third place finish.
“At the end of the day the roster was still a roster we thought could go out and win it all,” said Laskowski.
And, on the pitching side that certainly seemed be true, generally holding opposing bats at least in check enough to be in the hunt for a win.
“The pitching held up really well the whole tournament,” said Laskowski.
The bats on the other hand weren’t getting the key hits, something Laskowski said was an issue in the playoff round of the 2022 World Championship.
If there was a lesson out of Prince Albert it was a simple one, offered Laskowski. “We’ve got to hit the ball.”
That means a bit more time in front of pitching machines in the coming months, and some added research in terms of what the pitchers they’ll be facing are trying to do, suggested Laskowski.
For most players from top countries that will mean spending time with various International Softball Congress teams across North America – Laskowski is with the Circle Tap Dukes out of Denmark, Wis, along with Devon McCullough.
This year the ISC Word Championships will be in Surrey, B.C., Aug. 10-17.
Can Laskowski’s Dukes win in Surrey?
“I one hundred per cent think so. This is the best team I’ve played on with Circle Tap,” he told Yorkton This Week.
In addition to the host Canadian team in 2025, New Zealand and Argentina have officially punched their tickets to the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Final, joining the Dominican Republic and Australia who qualified in Group A.
Group C will be held September 17-21 in Oklahoma City with two more spots on the line. One wild card team will round out the eight-team field.
