Girls with play: Whalley vets remember Little League baseball days and urge others to play

With more girls playing baseball at Whalley Little League and on ball diamonds in BC, it’s a trend Niki Boyd and others are happy to see.

A former national team member, Boyd is a Whalley Hall-of-Famer who grew up 10 minutes from the park on University Drive and continues to play ball into his early 30s.

“My four older brothers all played there too, so I just followed what they were doing,” Boyd told the newspaper Now-leader during a recent phone conversation.

“As a kid, I couldn’t stop thinking about (baseball), and every time I was in the park I was playing,” she added. “I saw it on TV and wanted to keep learning. It’s clearly a sport where you can learn something new every day. I love that aspect.”

Whalley Athletic Park hosted the Little League closing ceremonies on Saturday, June 15, with tournaments and playoffs this month and into July. Schedules, club history and other details are included in the 2024 season schedule.

Boyd and others who played at Whalley, including Sydney Elrick and Stephanie Koenigsfeld (née Carlson), are urging girls to get involved in the game.

Another Whalley veteran is American soccer star Sydney Leroux, a Surrey-raised athlete who played on the Major Allstars team in 2002. The team almost reached Williamsport that year, but struck out in the Canadian championships. In 2017, Leroux was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence.
Koenigsfeld is now married and lives in Ocala, Florida and coaches her two young boys’ baseball team.

“My career started with baseball and I moved to softball, which took me to Florida, and I played all over Canada and in the United States,” Koenigsfeld explained.

In her Whalley days she lived in Guildford, graduated from Kwantlen Park Secondary and then attended American University.

“I started playing baseball on the pitching machines at Whalley when I was four, and I played there until I was 15,” Koenigsfeld added. “From what my parents always told me, it sounds like I loved it right away. I really loved baseball with all my heart.”

Boyd, who played both shortstop and outfield, traveled the world on baseball teams from 2012 to 2018, including several Canadian World Cup teams. Today, she plays on a competitive women’s Badgers team at Diamonds in Metro Vancouver.

“I definitely encourage girls to play baseball,” Boyd said. “There are a lot of doors opening these days and opportunities at higher levels. There are clearly a lot of girls making things happen for themselves. They work hard and are seen by men’s teams.”

Gavin Burke, Whalley’s first vice president, said 41 girls are currently registered to play for the club, or 12 percent of all players.

“I have been with the league for 25 years and I have noticed a much higher participation from girls, compared to perhaps single digits just a decade ago,” Burke noted.

“We reached out to Baseball BC to understand how their programming can support the development of Whalley-registered girls,” he added. “Next season we plan to offer girls-only clinics, tournaments and events and promote all opportunities outside of our club. One day I would like to see girls’ registration be so strong that all-girls teams can compete against boys fight.”

This summer, Baseball BC is bringing a girls league to Lionel Courchene Park in Surrey to help grow the game among female players in the province.

“It’s the first league of its kind in BC,” said league coordinator Scott MacKenzie, director of operations for Baseball BC. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for many, many years, and it’s finally become a reality.”

Last February, a call was made for young girls (aged seven to twelve) to play in the new competition. Details can be found on the website baseball.bc.ca/girls.

Whalley vet Koenigsfeld met her baseball-playing husband at Valdosta State University in Georgia. If the couple ever had a girl in the future, her mother would encourage that girl to play ball.

“I think I would put her on the same path as me, get her started in baseball and see where that takes her,” Koenigsfeld said. “If she makes the switch to softball one day, that would be great.

“There are quite a few young girls playing in my boys’ league, and they are doing very well,” the coach added. “The teams are pretty mixed with boys and girls, and it’s fun.”