Richards named minor athlete
Former Clearwater resident Brett Richards is Softball B.C. minor athlete of the year. His team, the Sooke Smoke, recently won silver at the national midget championships. Photo submitted
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Brett Richards, a former resident and athlete of Clearwater, started playing ball at age two in his grandma’s backyard. She would pitch to him and he would bat. He would field the ball when it was his brother’s turn to bat.
At age four he started T-Ball but he didn’t like to hit the ball off the “T” because he wanted to be pitched to. So he was moved up to the next age level. He always focused on the field plays at this early age and because of his ability to bat and field the ball he played at one or two levels above his age.
In 2004, at age 12 he played in the B.C. Summer Games in Abbottsford and the Western Canadians in Barriere. In 2005, playing with his home team at the provincials in Fleetwood and then the Western Canadians in Calahoo, his natural talent was evident to all. In 2006, Brett led his Zone 2 team to gold in the B.C. Summer Games in Kamloops. In 2007, he participated in provincial championships, the Western Canada Summer Games in Edmonton where the team took silver and then the Western Championships. In the fall of 2007, Brett moved to Courtenay and played for Sooke. The team placed third in the provincials and participated in the Western Canadians.
In 2009, Brett couldn’t wait for the season to begin for the Sooke Midget program and the newly formed U-19 boys program. At the Midget Nationals in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Brett came up with many clutch hits, including a three-run home run against Quebec, a walk-off home run against Ontario in the bottom of the eighth inning and scoring the winning run in the game against Northwest Territories. Brett played third base, catcher and first base; he had a batting average of .345 with nine RBIs. They won the silver medal.
At the U-19 International Championships in Prince Edward Island, Brett played third base, outfielder, and catcher. Batting in sixth position, his batting average was .408 with eight hits, nine runs and 11 RBIs. He played against New Zealand (a dream of his for years) and other Canadian provinces.
Brett is thinking of trying out for Team Canada and maybe even going to New Zealand to play ball.
Here’s a quote from his Sooke coach, Greg Banner, “I’m not sure how long Brett has played but looks to me he was born with a glove on his hand.”
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