SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hatters Shelley Vikedal, Robbie Hodgson and Lori Kube won softball gold with the Alberta Wild Team at the Pan Am World Wasters last weekend in Cleveland.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
A trio of Medicine Hat softball players had a trip to remember in Cleveland last weekend.
Shelley Vikedal, Robbie Hodgson and Lori Kube were part of the Alberta Wild Team who won gold at the Pan Am World Wasters. The Wild team went undefeated in the tournament, capping off a 6-0 run with a 10-0 win over the Australian Bruisers to capture the gold.
It was an experience that was capped off by the exceptional play Kube says.
“It was competitive and our team, made maybe three errors the entire weekend, we were playing so solid as a team,” Kube said. “That had a lot to do with it. Australia is a great hitting team, a great defensive team, and we just played our own game and it worked really well for us. Our coaching staff was great, they kept us on track. I’m so proud.”
The over-35 Masters division had three teams, the Wild, the Bruisers and the Canadian Thunderstruck.
Kube was happy to share the experience with Vikedal and Hodgson having played alongside them on various teams throughout the years.
Vikedal and Hodgson also had the pride of being sisters and sharing the Pan Am success with family. Vikedal says they’ve won a few provincial titles together before, also playing alongside their younger sister Lindsay, with this Wild’s championship being another bonding experience.
“We played a lot of years together, all three of us girls with our mom as well and we’ve won a few provincial championships with the DBs which is pretty amazing,” Vikedal said. “It’s a nice feeling to get to play with your family.”
Vikedal says they also shared the championship with six members of the DBs team they regularly play on. She says sharing that experience with teammates or people they’ve played against for years made it even sweeter.
“You go to a team and you think it’s going to take time to groove, it’s going to take time to kind of find your chemistry,” Vikedal said. “And yet this group of women wasn’t like that at all. It was like we’ve known each other forever, everyone just clicked in and it was the most amazing chemistry of 13 women.”
All three joined the Wild ahead of the 2021 Pan AM Games scheduled to take place in Japan. Those games were originally postponed to 2022 and then cancelled due to COVID-19. The original disappointment and waiting made the weekend win even more meaningful Hodgson says.
“It was extra special that we got to go to Cleveland and actually play in the games,” Hodgson said. “We’ve heard from so many people, including Trudy who runs the team, she’s been to three world master games in Italy, Auckland and Edmonton.
“Just hearing her stories, you get excited for it, but until you’re there and you’re actually like living it, it’s just a really cool experience.”
All three shared a love for the city of Cleveland, visiting it for the first time with the Pan Am Masters games.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Hodgson said. “It was very clean, everyone was so nice and helpful and the city’s architecture was really old, so it was really nice. It was just a beautiful city.”
