Constantly striving for Excellence, our objective is to field competitive Girls & Women's Fastpitch teams representing the City of Surrey and the Province of British Columbia!

Following an all too familiar path, the Surrey Storm '90 have become national softball champions.

The team of 17-18 year-old girls won the Canadian Midget national championship tournament Sunday afternoon in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, winning four straight do-or-die games over a span of 24 hours.

"These girls like to do it the hard way," said head coach Kim Wright, as the team enjoyed a post-game dinner in Stellarton. "But it's all about confidence. Today, they showed up and knew what the job at hand was. It was Championship Sunday."

The Storm won all seven round robin games to place first in the Red Pool at the 16-team tournament, but lost 4-1 to the White Rock Renegades in the first game of the double-knockout playoff Saturday morning.

Surrey responded by knocking off the Manitoba Angels 5-0 Saturday afternoon, then edged the Whitby Eagles 1-0 that night. Sunday morning, they stayed alive by blanking the Markham Jaguars 2-0 before stopping the White Rock Renegades 4-0 in the championship game.

The win comes less than a month after the Storm won both the provincial championship and Canada Cup Futures tournaments in similar fashion. At each tournament, Surrey was unbeaten in round robin play, then lost early in the double knockout only to win four consecutive games to take top spot.

In total, the Storm played 12 games over their last three tournaments where a loss would result in elimination. They won all 12 games.

Several players stepped up Sunday to contribute to the championship-clinching win over the Renegades. Courtney Cronin threw a complete-game one-hitter, allowing just one walk.

Before she took to the mound in the bottom of the first inning, Cronin had a 3-0 lead. Jessica Tieszen drove in the first run with the first of her three hits in the game, then Charlotte Dolan smacked a two-run home run.

Cronin shut down White Rock the rest of the way, and Sarah Harris added a solo home run.

Cronin, a North Delta resident, was named the tournament's Top Pitcher in the round robin, and won the Top Player award for the playoff round.

Wright credited Cronin, Hayley Choquette-Bettles and Marina Demore for combining as a "pitching staff which was fantastic all week."

Markham was the only team to score a run of Storm pitching in the round robin, getting one in a 2-1 loss. The four runs by the Renegades in the playoff were the only runs conceded by Surrey in a dozen games.

Kelsey Haberl at first base was the lone Storm player on the all-star team.

The national championship was the eighth major championship won by the Storm '90 team since it won its first provincial championship as a Squirt A team in the 2002 season. They have won five B.C. titles (2002, 2004, 2006-08), two national championships (Bantam - 2006, Midget - 2008), and a Canada Cup Futures tournament (2008). They have also won silver medals at the 2004 and 2005 national championships, the 2006 Canada Cup Showcase tournament and the 2003 Western Canada Championships, and won bronze at last year's nationals.

"This has been a stellar team all along," said Wright. "They are one of the true teams I've ever coached. A group of players is always called a team, but watch these girls away from the park, and you learn what a team really is."

The Storm will seek a second consecutive national title in 2009, a tournament they have already qualified for as a defending champion

Athlete is Always Game For a Game, Even With the Boys!
Led the bantam guys to a 14-0 record and title

When your sports resume is as long as Leah Riske's, you've got a few good tales to tell. During an extended rain delay in the dugout at Softball City she recalled two of her best:

FOOTBALL: Riske played boys football from 1997 to 2003, from the flag through junior bantam level where she was the team's starting quarterback and safety.

"My size allowed me to stay with the guys until junior bantam," says Riske, who upon quitting the game was replaced at the pivot by current Tweedsmuir star QB and SFU recruit Adam Berger.

One season, Riske led the team to a 14-0 record and the provincial title.

"I threw a nice TD pass in the B.C. championship game," she remembers. "We beat Mission."

SOCCER: Heading into her first year of high school at Tweedsmuir, Riske had never played soccer. Yet several of her friends with the top-level Surrey United Rage metro team -- desperate for a keeper -- convinced her to give it a try.

"I got a shutout in my first game," Riske says with a laugh.

Surrey United went to double overtime in the Coastal Cup final that season, and although her team eventually lost, she stopped the first three shots in the shootout.

"I guessed right," she says smiling.

Surrey Storm's Leah Riske will be playing NCAA Div. 1 softball next season.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, The Province

The most exhausting assignment for a B.C. high school sports reporter would be simple: Follow Surrey-Lord Tweedsmuir's senior all-everything athlete Leah Riske to all of her games and practices for one year.

Easier said than done, especially if you plan to eat or sleep.

For most, balancing the academic work load of a Grade 12 year with the demands of playing 'A' rep softball would be considered a heavy load. For Riske, 18, it's the tip of the iceberg because she is a member of virtually every varsity sports team at her school, suiting up for the September-through-June gamut of field hockey, volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and track and field.

"My friends all understand but it can be tough, especially in the winter," says Riske. "They know a lot of times that I've got sports and that I can't always hang out."

And although she is a standout in every sport she has competed in, her true athletic identity has always been on the softball diamond where she has competed since the age of three, and where she stars at shortstop with the Surrey Storm midget team.

In fact, beginning this fall, Riske will leave all of her other sports behind to concentrate solely on softball as a scholarship athlete at NCAA Div. 1 Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.

"They told me that they were looking for a shortstop but they also said that they were looking for an athlete," says Riske, whose Storm team has finished in the top three in Canada the past three seasons, including a national championship at the bantam level in 2006. "I've always thought of myself as a well-rounded athlete."

And a busy one.

Ask the 5-foot-8 Riske about any particular sport and she immediately offers the pluses it has provided her as a shortstop.

Soccer (keeper with Surrey United Metro): "Diving left and right. I read the ball much faster now."

Javelin (she was fifth in B.C. at 36.18 metres): "It's great for my arm power."

Volleyball (middle): "It's helped my hand-eye coordination. When you go for a spike you are watching the blocker's hands and where you're going to place the ball."

You get the idea.

And then there are the Riske Rules.

"Basically it was games over practices," she says, noting a plan of action whenever her bevy of sports caused conflicts in her schedule. "But I won't put anything above Storm games. I've been playing softball since I was three. I've always known that it's my sport."

Storm President Rob Upton Recognized at Sport BC's 14th Annual Presidents' Awards!

March 5, 2008 - In addition to serving its members, Sport BC exists to honour coaches, volunteers and sport administrators. Sport BC's annual Presidents' Awards promote and celebrates the spirit of volunteerism by giving member organizations an opportunity to acknowledge and thank an individual who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and commitment to their organization.

Each year Sport BC members put forth a representative from their organization to be recognized at the annual reception. This year's awards were held March 5th, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver.

The Presidents' Awards are sponsored by the Province of British Columbia

Softball B.C.
Rob Upton, Surrey

Rob Upton started coaching softball over 20 years ago. He is currently in his 11th year as the President of Surrey Storm Fastpitch Association. Rob has continued his involvement with softball beyond the association level. He was the co-chair of the Canadian Championship for Bantam A Girls in 2005. He has been on the Canada Cup Committee since 2003, when the Futures Division was introduced and hosted in Cloverdale. He is now the tournament supervisor for the Cloverdale site. In 2007, Rob was the Transportation Chair for the Junior and Senior Woman's Canadian Championships.

August, 2007 - Surrey Storm 1990 A wins Bronze Medal at 2007 Midget Girls Canadian Championships. After going undefeated in the Round Robin, this first year Midget team lost two 1-0 games in the playoffs to win the Bronze Medal! Congratulations! Look out Canada in 2008 & 2009!

This Team has been amazing through the years! Here is a brief summary of their successes:

2002 - Provincial Gold - Squirt A
2003 - Western Canada - Silver - Peewee A
2004 - Provincial Gold - PeeWee A
2004 - National Silver - PeeWee A
2005 - National Silver - Bantam A
2006 - Provincial Gold - Bantam A
2006 - Canada Cup Showcase Silver - Bantam A
2006 - National Gold - Bantam A
2007 - Provincial Gold - Midget A
2007 - National Bronze - Midget A

4 Provinicial Gold medals - Squirt, Peewee, Bantam, Midget
1 Western Canada Silver - 1st year Peewee
1 National Bronze - 1st year Midget
2 National Silvers 2nd year Peewee, 1st year Bantam
1 National Gold 2nd Year Bantam,
1 Canada Cup Showcase Silver - 2nd year Bantam.

This is not including many of their local tournament wins which are just too many to list. Congratulations to the Team and especially the Coaching Staff headed by Phil Thom!

July 15, 2007 - Surrey Storm 1990 "A" wins Gold Medal in 2007 Midget "A" Girls Provincial Championships! (as a 1st year team no less!) Congratulations and best of luck in the Canadian Championships in Edmonton, Alberta!

August 20, 2006 - Storm 1990 "A" wins Bantam "A" Girls Canadian Fastpitch Championships in St. Catherines, Ontario by defeating Quebec Les Rebelles 2-0 in the Championship Game. Pictures to follow! Congratulations to the entire team and Coaching staff! Way to go --- we are extremely proud of you!

By Sheila Reynolds
Staff Reporter - The Leader August 23, 2006
Aug 23 2006

Kelsey Haberl of the Surrey Storm (right) attempts to make in on base at the Canada Cup last month. The Surrey squad won first place at the 12-team Bantam A national championships in Ontario on Sunday.

It wasn’t quite the all-B.C. final some were hoping for, but teams from Surrey and Delta still took home gold and bronze from the Canadian Bantam girls softball championships on the weekend. The tournament took place in St. Catherines, Ontario and involved a dozen of the best squads of 15- and 16-year-old female players in the country.

Second at last year’s nationals, Surrey Storm emerged as the 2006 winners. Coach Phil Thom anticipated his provincial champion team would do well, and they delivered. “I came in expecting to be a top three medal finisher,” he said while waiting to board a plane home. “I had that much confidence in my kids ... and they came through.”

Surrey was 6-1 in round robin play, losing only to their familiar rivals, the Delta Heat. “We got better and better each game out. We hadn’t played for three weeks,” said Thom.

The first of the championship games Sunday pitted the Storm against the Heat – both local teams undefeated in the double knockout bracket. Surrey opened the scoring with a runs by Leah Riske and Kelsey Haberl, but Delta replied quickly in the second, with Paige Collins hitting a single and scoring on a double by catcher Charlotte Dolan. The Storm came back with another to lead the game 3-1 after the second inning. The Heat persevered in the third with a run from Brittany McNeill and tied up the match in the seventh inning with a double off the left field fence by Alisha McFadden that brought Corrine Doornberg home, sending the see-saw battle to extra innings. The Storm scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Steph Monk in the ninth, defeating the Heat 4-3.

The loss sent Delta to the semi-final game against Quebec. Les Rebelles scored three runs in the second inning and four more in the third, leaving the Heat scoreless in a disappointing 7-0 loss.

“We had just lost to the Storm and I think a lot of the girls were pretty down about that,” said Heat assistant coach Keith Holm. “We just couldn’t hit. Our bats left the day before us.”

Though undefeated in round robin play, Delta settled for the bronze in the finals. “We didn’t do as well as planned,” said Holm. “I think we could have done better, but we’re still the third best in the country.”

In the championship game, the Storm faced Les Rebelles, a team they played previously to nine innings in round robin play. “We scored first and had a 1-0 lead going into the fifth inning,” said Thom of the gold-medal game, “then we scored one more to make it 2-0 and we just held on.”

Surrey pitcher Courtney Cronin struck out 14 hitters to leave Quebec scoreless.

Though some were hoping it would be a B.C. sweep at nationals, the Victoria Devils were knocked out by Quebec Sunday. Two Delta players – shortstop Jessica Tieszen and batter Corrine Doornberg – were selected to the tournament All Star Team, as was Storm catcher Brittney Robeiro.

All-Star Catcher - Brittany Ribeiro!

Storm 1990 A wins the 2006 British Columbia Provincial Championships!

June 9-11, 2006 - Storm 94B Plays Marathon Championship Game to Win the Pepsi Generation Games – Squirt Minor B Fastpitch Tournament!

Over the weekend, 8 teams (Surrey Thunder 95, Ridge Meadows Rage 94, North Langley Lightening 95, Fleetwood Force, Nanaimo ?, Abbotsford Outlaws 94, and the Surrey Storm 94) participated in the Pepsi Generation Games Minor B Fastpitch Tournament at Softball City in White Rock.

The Storm rumble started on a beautiful Friday evening beating the Surrey Thunder 95. The Storm’s bats were on fire bringing in 15 runs in three innings to finish with a 1?-2 victory. Cassidy St. Croix, Taylor Gough, and Jaymie White had breakout games at bat. Ashley Allison was the closing pitcher.

On Saturday morning, the Storm and Rage 94 played a defensive battle ending in a 5-5 tie. Storm’s next opponent was the North Langley Lightening 95. The pitcher of the Lightening found her groove and held the Storm to one run, winning 5-1 to close out round robin play. North Langley went on to finish undefeated and seeded first for the final day. Surrey Storm finished fourth resulting in a re-match against fifth place Rage 94 in the single knock-out playoffs on Sunday morning.

Storm came out aggressively right from the start with short stop Rebecca Morgan, and catcher Jennifer Mathieson providing a spark to ignite their team to take a 9-2 win from the Rage. The win earned them yet another re-match against the still undefeated North Langley Lightening in the semi-finals.

The Storm was remembering their Saturday loss to the Lightening so they quickly jumped out with a five-run first inning. Shocked, the Lightening tried their best to battle back but could not find the spark to regain their team energy. Storm redeemed themselves by finishing with an 11-1 win and most importantly, a spot in the final championship game. In the other semi-final match-up, Fleetwood Force played to a convincing 13-1 win over Nanaimo.

The match-up between the Force and Storm was seen as a possible preview to a District 7 playoff game coming up later in the month. Both teams were thrilled about making it into the seven inning final game. Team spirits were high and the game started at 6pm with Force jumping out to a two run lead before the Storm pitcher realized the mound was set five feet further than it should have been. The game was stopped and the Umpire-in-Charge was called out to make the final ruling. Both teams were asked to finish the first inning with the mound set at the Midget level. Storm’s pitcher, Jessica Hume was called in to complete the inning and limited the Force to a 3 or 4??? runs. Storm battled back to take a ? run lead before the grounds crew corrected the pitcher’s mound to the official distance.

At the top of the fifth with Storm leading 11-6, Force battled back to tie and then shut the Storm down heading into the sixth inning. Force started their rally and appeared to be looking to take full advantage of the open inning. However, after taking a three run lead, the game was stopped for twenty minutes to confirm an error in the Force’s batting line-up. The incident caused the Force to resume play with two outs. Storm capitalized and pitcher Jaymie White held them the Force to three runs. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Force’s pitcher Serena Graf stopped the Storm and the Force took their 14-11 lead into the seventh and final inning.

The Storm played a remarkable inning with strong pitching and defence from Jaymie White, Ashley Ausmus, Allison Chomcy, and Taylor McIntosh, preventing the Force from adding to their lead. The Storm came off the field anxious to get up to bat. At the top of the order, Rebecca Morgan battled back from two strikes to earn a walk. Taryn Uyeno placed a single over first base to advance Rebecca to third. With one out, Jessica Hume stepped up and successfully dropped a fly ball out to left field to bring in two runs and narrow the gap to one run. With Jessica on first base, Storm’s next batter, Jennifer Mathieson patiently waited for her pitch. A fastball was thrown and Jennifer drove it right up the middle to centre field to allow Jessica to come home to tie the game. However, on the same play, the Force’s centre fielder took the ball and fired it right to the catcher. At that moment, Jennifer rounded third half way down the baseline and enticed the catcher enough to overthrow her third baseman, thus allowing Jennifer to score the winning run and win the championship game. The crowd and players erupted to celebrate the end of a three and a half hour marathon game that was full of spirit, great plays, great hits, and events throughout the entire game that will be long remembered. Coaches Dan and Kelly were proud of the girls character and teamwork through the tournament.

May 21, 2006 - Storm 91B goes 7-1 to pick up the Silver medal in Langford!

The Storm 1991B recently finished the Round Robin portion of the Langford Bantam B Tournament with a record of 5 wins and 0 losses. They then had 2 wins in the playoffs to get to the Gold Medal game before their 1st loss, having to settle for silver. It was a gutsy effort by the girls who battled from behind in the semi final game to beat Port Alberni before losing the final to View Royal. All in all it was a great tournament for the team, finishing 7-1!

May 8, 2006 - Storm 94B goes 6-0 in winning a tournament in Delta! Congratulations girls, coaches & parents!

Surrey Storm 94B has won their second tournament in a row, taking home the gold! 13 teams took part in the May 12-14 Tsawwassen Squirt B contest, with Storm heading into the playoffs on Sunday after winning all four round robin games. Storm’s playoff victories included the North Delta Sunfires 94, beating them 13-8 in the quarter final round to advance to the semifinals winning 5-3 opposite the host team, South Delta Invaders 94. In the final round, the Storm battled back from behind against the Ridge Meadows Rave. Second base Taylor McIntosh shut them down in the bottom of the 5th inning getting all three outs, setting up a Storm rally at the top of the 6th inning to take the lead. Clutch pitching by Jaymie White and closing pitcher Jessica Hume resulted in a 17-7 win with another first place finish to close out the Mother’s Day weekend. Hats off to Allison Chomcy, Taryn Uyeno, Jessica Hume and Ashley Allison for being chosen as the MVPs during the round robin.

May 7, 2006 - Richmond Girls Invitational Squirt A Softball Tournament!

The 1994A team was playing for 3rd place against the Fraser Valley Fusion. After 6 complete innings the Storm were in a deep hole down by 6 runs to a strong Fusion squad.

The coaches gathered the girls prior to the top of the seventh inning and told them to just go out there and have some fun and see what could be done with our last at bat. The Storm started to rumble and before the Fusion knew what hit them the Storm belted out nine runs to pull ahead by three runs. The bats came alive and it made for a very exciting finish to the tournament! The pitching trio of Lauren, Tonya & Krysta all did their part to hold us in there until the offence came through. In the bottom of the seventh the Fusion were held off the score board to preserve the comeback win for the "Sunday" storm!

Needless to say the Coaching staff, parents and fans were very proud of the character shown by each of the girls to bring off this amazing comeback! Congratulations Girls!!!!!!