Kelowna woman set to play ball
73-year-old who spends winters in Arizona to pitch for Canadians against Americans in weekend softball tournament
Asnowbirding Kelowna woman will throw out the first pitch at a Canada-U.S. softball tournament this weekend in Arizona.
And after her ceremonial duty is done, Maureen Deys will pull on a Maple Leaf jersey and compete as the only woman on the Canadian team.
“I’ve developed my skills as a pitcher pretty well over the years,” Deys, a 73-year-old retired police officer and former McDonald’s franchise owner, said Wednesday from her winter home at the Monte Vista Village Resort, an 32-hectare complex in metro Phoenix.
The resort has an eight-team softball league, but once a year all the best players divide into two super teams — one Canadian and one America — and play for national bragging rights.
“It’s fun to play, but it’s almost more fun to watch the way all the fans in the stands get into the game,” Deys said. “People are waving flags, singing, dancing and cheering, and there’s a fair bit of jabbing between the Canadians and the Americans.”
Last year, the teams split the two-game tournament.
“Although we take our patriotism very seriously, at the end of the day it’s a real fun event that brings us all together in the best way,” Monte Vista’s softball commissioner, Jim Peever, told MyNewsMesa.com before last year’s tournament.
This Saturday, Deys will share the first-pitch ceremonial duties with 83-year-old Norma Franzese, an American and the only other woman playing in the CanAm Softball Games.
Deys did not play softball as a girl, coming to the game later in life, at age 29.
But she proved a quick study and top player, having competed at national tournaments in both Canada and the U.S. Although softball is her passion, Deys also enjoys Monte Vista’s pools, tennis courts and pickleball courts.
“It’s a lovely place to relax and spend the winter,” she said. “But it’s also important, when you get older, to stay in great shape.”