Bodwell’s softball Teams A and B put up a worthwhile and hard fought effort in the GVISAA Tournament on Wednesday, June 10th. Competing against other North Vancouver teams, Bodwell students secured 2nd and 3rd place victories.

Team A, coached by Ms. White, won their first game 6-3, defeating St. John’s International. The hitting was outstanding with runners advancing every turn at bat. Tatsuaki Yokoi was instrumental as pitcher creating several strike-outs, and Sumin Lee created a good target at the plate as team catcher. Reina Abe, playing rover, caught an outstanding fly ball in the outfield to prevent runners from clearing the bases. Youngwook Jang, Genki Hara and Yana Ando helped to deliver strong hits that drove in runs. The second game, against Khalsa, resulted in a heart-breaking overtime loss. With two outs and a runner on third, a hit was made that helped drive in the 1-0 score in favor of Khalsa. Despite the loss, Kenya Sakakibara showed great talent as the team short stop, denying Khalsa several base hits. Yagmur Bul and Takeshi Iso made good plays at 2nd and 1st bases. Reina Abe and Elizabeth Soriano Lopez came out with bats blazing as they both made base hits. Special thanks to Seitarou Nakata for his adaptability playing several positions and Idil Turk for helping with third base coaching and equipment management. Overall, Team A did a wonderful job against two worth opponents to secure 2nd place in the tournament.

Mr. Ng had the privilege of coaching Team B that included Masashi, Akari, Tora, Haruna, Taihei, Semi, Shungo, Brian, Ryoma, Jake, and Seitarou. One of the signs of an excellent athlete is an athlete that is able listen to his or her coach and do what is suggested. We had lost our first game by a score of one to zero, and in preparing for the second game, I told the players to do something different, really a small change in strategy, to which they listened and applied for the second game. We won the second game, to earn third place in the tournament. Thank you players for being coachable. We want to mention that was Taihei Hirata was injured in the tournament and we wish him a speed recovery.