The disappearance of five of Team Japan’s national uniforms did little to quell the returning champions’ quest for the 2012 Women’s International Division title at the Canadian Open.
The Japanese women’s fastpitch squad sealed the victory Monday night with a 9-6 win over Team USA at Softball City.
But there’s no question last week’s apparent theft of the attire threw the team a bit of a curve ball.
According to officials, the team reported the uniforms – four red jerseys, four shorts and two warmup jackets, along with a pair of warmup pants belonging to the team’s head coach – stolen on Wednesday, July 4. They were taken from a South Surrey laundromat, where they had been dropped off for cleaning.
The laundromat owner apparently remembers taking the jerseys out of the machine and placing them on a trolley.
“From the information we can get, they were put in a plastic bag,” tournament chair Greg Timm said Tuesday. “We’re still hopeful that somebody may have taken them in error from the dry cleaner, and that somebody at some point in time is going to open their laundry bag… and say, ‘whoops, I got the wrong bag.’”
One challenge that resulted from the disappearance came in ensuring tournament rules that require teams to compete in contrasting colours could still be met. Without enough spare uniforms for every player, Team Japan had to play every game in their alternate uniforms: white jerseys and red and white shorts.
Fortunately, their opponents, including Team Canada, were “super co-operative.”
The understanding of competitors coupled with efforts to try to find the uniforms eased the upset of the experience for the squad, Timms added.
“Their head coach lost her pants in that bag, so they thought that was a little bit humorous,” Timm said. “They had envisioned their coach possibly being out on the field with no pants, so the players were having some fun with that.”
There is still hope the uniforms will be returned in time for the team’s games at the Women’s World Championships, which get underway in Whitehorse Friday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Brittney Prentice at 604-536-9287.
The incident was one of two significant ones – and “lots of little things” – officials dealt with over the course of the tourney.
Timm said the society had to make a desperate last-minute appeal for help from South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale MP Russ Hiebert, after the senior Venezuelan team withdrew from the event due to difficulties obtaining their visas.
“Our host committee said ‘just a minute, let’s wait and see if we can help,’” Timm said. “We started with our MP’s office and the staff in that office was fantastic in assisting us. We had the visas issued late that evening and picked up that evening in Caracas and the Venezuelan team was successful in hitting their flights.”
The youth Venezuelan team, however, was not so lucky. Planning to attend the Canadian Open, the squad also had to withdraw after visa troubles.
They have committed to attend next year’s tournament, Timm said.
