Two Campbell River girls are going to get a good look what it takes to play college softball in the U.S. this fall.
Landis Kalyn and Kianna Ohlinger, both 15, have been selected by Canada Futures Softball to participate in a college tour next month to places in southern U.S. states like Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Kalyn was offered a position on the Canada Futures Team earlier last month after attending Beyond The White Lines Softball camp held in Duncan July 31-Aug. 2. She then had to attend a weekend practice in Vancouver for further evaluation. They were looking for a few more girls so she asked her friend Ohlinger to try out. She did and made it. They will both be heading over to Vancouver to practice one weekend in September.
Then they leave Oct. 3 for 10 days and will be playing double headers and visiting college campuses. They will get to experience life as a college athlete and see what is takes to succeed at that level. Kalyn is a pitcher and plays 1st base, Ohlinger plays 2nd and outfield.
The Canada Futures program started in 2012 when head coach Joni Frei returned to Canada after 12 years of coaching Division 1 softball in Georgia. She translated the many college connections she had made into a program that exposes Canadian female softball players, ages 14-17, to the college game in the U.S. Many of the coaches are personal friends and former colleagues of Frei.
During these annual tours the girls get the opportunity to see world class facilities and interact with players that these schools. The girls play against junior college teams giving them the opportunity to see what level their skills are at and what is needed to get to the next level.
This is a unique program, Frei says.
“This isn’t even a thing in the U.S.,” she says. “This is super unique to this program. There’s nowhere in the world that does this.”
Kalyn and Ohlinger will join 38 other players selected for the tour and they will play against junior-college-aged (18-19) players.
“The goal is for them to really see what college softball looks like,” Frei says.
They also get feedback from college-level coaches on not only playing skill but also what it takes to get accepted into a college program academically.
And of course, occasionally, the exposure works the other way. It’s not uncommon for players to generate interest from college coaches and get invitations to play for them when they graduate from highschool.
“Sometimes after our games a coach will come up to us and say hey we like you, we want you to come and play with us,” Frei says. “We’ve had a lot of success. A lot of our kids are now going on scholarships to play college softball.”
That doesn’t happen to all the players and, of course, for the younger players, the benefit is the exposure to the game and what it takes to generate interest from college programs.
“A lot of our kids are going on and being successful whether it’s at the schools we’re playing against or they just get an idea of what college softball looks like,” Frei says. “For a 14-year-old, they’re not going to be offered a scholarship. For a 14-year-old they’re like, ‘Okay, this is what college softball looks like. I know that if I bust my tail for the next three, four years I’ll have opportunities when it’s time for me to sign with a college.'”
The players will play “a lot of softball” – 10 games in five days against six different colleges. They will also visit 11 different campuses. These are all junior colleges which is a stepping stone athletically to NAIA and NCAA Div. 1 college programs. If players do well at junior college they can sometimes get picked up by four-year colleges. The girls will tour NCAA schools like Florida State and Auburn, watch their softball games and talk to their coaches.
“The girls will get a chance to see the best of the best of the best,” Frei says.
