Don't look now but there may soon be a few viable options for those girls looking for just a little bit more from their softball / fastball experience in the nickel city.

Led by a mix of locals who understand the challenges of limited numbers and such quite well along with at least one super-energetic newcomer to Sudbury who arrived with plenty of fastball knowledge in hand, the Nickel City U17 Howlers took to the field this summer, mostly for practices but with a pair of tournaments interspersed for good measure.

"Playing at a more competitive level was exciting, improving their skills, actually practicing with my teammates" - that was just some of the feedback that former Canadian Junior Women's Fastball team member turned coach Jada Gowanlock passed along from her players.

"We had strong competition down south and it pushed us to work even harder when things got tough" stated the players to the team staff that also included Bill Tibble, Fran Landry and Jessica Lerch.

"We were surprisingly pleased with how our team competed with teams down in the GTA," said Gowanlock. "We thought we would be way behind but the games were competitive, even though we lost."

"It was amazing to see the friendship and camaraderie built between the girls."

The team closed out their summer with a player / parents game last week with expectations that a good number of the crew that encompassed Aria Potter, Arieanna Aguonie, Chloe Dumoulin, Ella Gatien, Grace Demers, Hailey Villeneuve, June Corbiere, Mia Pren, Milla Szanto, Penelope Tibble, Zoe Gatien and alternated Alicia Elliott, Brooke Plante and Meredith Sonnenburg will return for 2027 tryouts next March.