Outlaws dynasty heads to Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame

Outlaws shortstop Lyndsay Koscielski, centre, smiles at a presser.

The Saskatoon Outlaws are the picture perfect example of the cliché, “Win today and walk together forever.”

In 2011, the Outlaw cemented a softball dynasty winning their third Canadian Junior Women’s Championship in four years. They captured gold with a 4-3 title game victory over the Ontario champion Guelph Junior Gators at nationals hosted in Windsor, Ont. They claimed their two previous Canadian championships in 2010 at home in Saskatoon and in 2008 in Summerside, P.E.I.

The run of national titles could have been four in a row, but at the 2009 nationals hosted in St. Catharines, Ont., the Outlaws were missing four of their top players due to commitments with the nursing program at the University of Saskatchewan. The team finished fifth at that national championship tournament.

While it has been 12 years since the Outlaws last Canadian championship win, the players from those teams still carry tight friendships and keep in touch on a regular basis into the present day. Those bonds have carried on even through those players’ lives are much different than when they played for the Outlaws when they were between the ages of 19 and 23.

“It is pretty cool, and now we all have kids,” said Outlaws shortstop Lyndsay Koscielski. “Now, our kids play sports together.

“We still get together at Christmas. We still hang out.”

On Wednesday, another accolade came the Outlaws way. During a press conference in the main hall at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds, it was announced that all three of those Canadian champion Outlaws squads will be inducted as part of the 2023 class into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremonies will be held in the evening on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Prairieland Park. The 2023 class includes the three Outlaws teams, five athletes and three builders.

“It is pretty cool,” said Koscielski about the upcoming induction. “It is something we never expected.

Outlaws coach Ben Garchinski, left, shakes hands with Derek Bloski.

“I never ever would have thought of this.”

The majority of the players on the Outlaws grew up through Saskatoon’s minor softball system playing against each other as either members of the Phantoms or the Hustlers. Those players came together to start the “Outlaws Era” as members of the midget A Outlaw Selects in 2006.

The Outlaw Selects won provincial titles in the midget A ranks in 2006 and 2007 leading up to the team’s core graduating to the junior A ranks in 2008 becoming the Outlaws. The Outlaws captured the junior A provincial title in 2008 and followed up with as the surprise winner of the 2008 Canadian championships in Summerside, P.E.I.

The Outlaws 2008 Canadian title win marked the first time a team from Saskatchewan won the junior women’s championship.

Following the 2008 campaign, the Outlaws won the junior A provincial title in 2009 and again in 2010. The second Canadian championship win came in 2010 on home turf. With Saskatoon hosting junior nationals, the Outlaws downed the Guelph Junior Gators 7-4 at Bob Van Impe Stadium for their second Canadian title.

After winning another provincial junior A crown in 2011, the Outlaws moved on to down the Gators for a second straight season in the Canadian championship game with nationals being held in Windsor, Ont. That win completed the run of winning three national junior A titles in four years for the Saskatoon squad.

Jon Equina, who has coached softball in Saskatoon for 23 over years and has had an even longer playing career, was one of the Outlaws assistant coaches during those junior A championship seasons. He considers those four seasons he coached with the Outlaws as some of his most memorable times in the sport.

“To be honest, it was one of the greatest teams or dynasties that I’ve ever seen or been a part of in softball here in Saskatoon,” said Equina. “I’ve been through a lot of teams, and this was a pretty special team just the way they were put together and how good they were as friends off the field.

“The way they played it was something special, and it was something people loved to watch. It was a show every time they came out, and they made sure of it. It was softball at its finest.”

A total of eight players were on all three of the Outlaws Canadian championship teams including Koscielski, Stacey Boldt, Lauren Bourdon, Lindsay Garchinski, Katherine Guenther, Anne Kelly, Sydney Marquart and Natalie Woodside. Earle Woodside and Equina were on the coaching staff for all three national title wins.

Some of the members of the Saskatoon Sport Hall of Fame’s class of 2023.

Equina said it was surreal for the Outlaws Canadian championship teams will be going into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is unexplainable,” said Equina. “I’m speechless.

“It is something that is pretty special that I hold to my heart to be able to say that we were a part of this very exclusive class. Especially for me to be able to go into the Hall with all this company that I have and with what I do for a living in softball, this is something that I can’t explain how I feel to be honest.”

Joining the Outlaws in the 2023 class includes in the athletes category Jeff Adamson in wrestling, Kelly Parker in Soccer, Kathy (Rollo) Seaman in diving, Adrianne Vangool in athletics and Heather Witzel in basketball. Entering the Hall in the builders category are Derek Bloski in hockey and softball, Dave McCullough in softball and Ivan Tam in athletics.

The WHL’s Saskatoon Blades were honoured by the Hall as the Sports Organization of the Year.

Following the 2011 Canadian title win, the “Outlaws Era” came to an end with an epilogue that saw the team win two provincial Senior A titles in 2012 and 2013. The Outlaws played one final season in 2014 winning a Saskatchewan Amateur Softball Association league title but did not enter provincials. With the nucleus of the players pursuing work life careers, the Outlaws disbanded after the 2014 campaign.

Still, Equina said it is heartwarming that the players have stayed in touch now over a decade after that last junior A Canadian title win.

“To see these girls now, they are coaching with me, they are coaching their own daughters, some of them are still playing and a lot of them are still involved with softball,” said Equina. “Most importantly, they are all still best friends.

“They’ve all attended each others’ weddings. They’ve attended every sort of ceremony, graduation. They seem to all be there for each other.

“To have us along for the ride, it has been pretty special for me to be able to say I was a single part of this team.”

Koscielski said she has numerous great memories from her time with the Outlaws. Looking back on those years, Koscielski said team was able to roll due to some of the most simple and pure reasons.

The Outlaws celebrate their Canadian title win in 2010.

“We just did a lot together,” said Koscielski. “We really liked to hang out with each other and play.

“It was just fun.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. The Outlaws team picture from 2010 is courtesy of Stacey Boldt.

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Golf star Wilson reflects fondly on other sports life

Sports Hall of Fame inductee shined at U of Saskatchewan

Barb Wilson, second from right, has great memories from U of S.

    At one time, golf wasn’t the only sport Barb Wilson was known for.

    On Wednesday at a press conference at the Saskatoon Field House, the 66-year-old was announced as an inductee for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame class of 2017. With one Saskatchewan junior women’s golf title, five Saskatchewan women’s amateur titles and five Saskatchewan senior women’s title to her credit, Wilson’s selection to the local Sports Hall of Fame as an athlete was a fitting one.

    With the Field House being located right next to the University of Saskatchewan, Wilson found herself reflecting on the days when she was a member of the school’s athletics program. She played for what was then known as the Huskiettes basketball team from 1970 to 1974. Besides the hoops team, Wilson was also a member of the Huskiettes field hockey team and the track and field team.

    “I absolutely loved my five years in the university,” said Wilson. “You can’t get better than that.”

    “One of my best friends is Heather Witzel, who played with me on the basketball team. Pat Jackson was our coach at that time and was one of the all-time best coaches. She was actually the coach of the national team for the first couple of years that I played.

    “I remembered all the fun times that we had playing field hockey. We all had to learn how to play field hockey, because the university didn’t have a coach, so they asked Pat to coach it.”

    Wilson and Witzel played basketball together for three seasons from 1970 to 1973 helping the Huskiettes post an 85-11 record. The team won a bronze medal at the 1971 Canada Winter Games in Saskatoon.

Barb Wilson listens to her Hall introduction.

    Following those three campaigns, Wilson stayed on for the 1973-74 season helping the Huskiettes record a 15-5 regular season mark before being swept by UBC 2-0 in a best-of-three Canada West championship series.

    Back in those days, Wilson said all the members of the basketball team played field hockey to prepare for the hoops season. She remembered one time when Witzel had trouble adjusting to the changing conditions outside.

    “She (Witzel) came from B.C. and froze, absolutely froze because of our weather,” said Wilson. “Lucky devil her, she got to go in and have a hot shower before basketball practice where none of the others did.

    “We had very good times. I still go out to (Vancouver Island) to see Heather.”

    While Wilson cemented her star status on the provincial golf scene after leaving university becoming a member of the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame in 2015, she still kept tabs on the U of S women’s basketball program, which has been known as the Huskies women’s basketball team for a lengthy stretch of time.

    Under current head coach Lisa Thomaidis, the Huskies have won five Canada West titles and a U Sports national championship in 2016.

    Remembering how different things were in the early 1970s, Wilson was amazed to see the attention Thomaidis’s teams have drawn and admits she wished her hoops teams could have drawn that same attention.

    “It is a good thing that she projects her team as one of the best if not the best,” said Wilson. “We were very good in our time with Pat Jackson, very good.

    “I don’t think we ever got any credit for that as what is going on now. That is alright.”

    While she has great memories from her university days, Wilson has countless memories playing golf. In a perky and upbeat way, she said it was really nice to be announced as an inductee to the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

    She also wants to get back to playing that sport on a more frequent basis. Since winning her last Saskatchewan senior women’s amateur title in 2005, Wilson was pulled off the golf course due to a battle with cancer.

    Having won her battle with cancer, Wilson said this year she feels ready play on a more regular basis again.

    “Golf is great,” said Wilson. “I started to golf when I was 12. I kept golfing all the way through.

    “I love that sport. I absolutely love it. I was hoping I could keep going on it.

    “I am getting back there now. I am going to go into a few tournaments this year, so we should see.”

Bryan Kosteroski listens to his Hall introduction.

    Also going into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame this year is Saskatoon Amateur Softball Association president Bryan Kosteroski under the builder’s category. Kosteroski has held numerous roles during a lengthy involvement in the city’s softball scene. He was pretty pleased to get the call to the local Sports Hall of Fame.

    “It is very exciting,” said Kosteroski. “I look who is all in the Hall of Fame it gets very overwhelming.”

    Currently, Kosteroski is the volunteer chairperson of the Friends of the Bowl Foundation not-for-profit group, which is continually working to keep refurbishing the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. He said working with the Friends of the Bowl, which was formed in 2013, has been very rewarding.

    “It has been awesome with the people we got to know, the goals we have and the all the sports groups working together,” said Kosteroski. “You don’t see that anywhere in Canada.

    “This project in Saskatoon is something special, and you are going to hear a lot more special things coming upon here in the fall. Working with all these different groups is tremendous.”

    Other athletes that are part of the 2017 Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame class include Cam Baerg in rowing, Erin Cumpstone in softball and ringette, the late Ted Dushinski in football and Joanne Jones Vause in track and field.

Some of the inductees for the 2017 Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

    Also being inducted as builders are late Keith Allen in hockey, Chris Baraniuk in artistic gymnastics and Huw Morris in soccer. 

    The 2007 Canadian Junior Football League champion Saskatoon Hilltops will enter in the team category.

    Curl Saskatoon was named the Sports Organization of the Year by the local Hall of Fame.

    The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be held Nov. 4 at TCU Place.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.