A baseball game in honour of Amanda Asay was played at City Field Saturday afternoon.
Amanda was a longtime Women’s National Baseball team member, who died in a skiing accident in Nelson last January. She was 33 years old.
Lori and George Asay, Amanda’s mom and dad and Amanda’s brother Brad, were at the field to watch the men and women who came together to play the memorial game.
Asay grew up in Prince George and was a strong advocate for women in baseball, which started right here and she carried that message with her everywhere she went.
She traveled all over the world playing baseball as part of Team Canada and competed in several world championships, earning MVP most notably during the 2006 Women’s World Baseball Cup in Taiwan and in 2016 as a pitcher at the Women’s Baseball World Cup in South Korea.
To honour Amanda, Baseball Canada formally retired her No. 19 from the Women's National Team program on May 15.
Gerry VanCaeseele, a longtime umpire in Prince George, said his children and the Asay children grew up together. He said he was honoured to give the speech offering attendees at the memorial game some insight into Amanda’s many accomplishments and recognized not only what an incredible athlete she was but also what a wonderful person she was, too.
“It is fantastic,” Lori Asay said about how Prince George has honoured their daughter’s memory by hosting the ball game Saturday. ”She spent a lot of time here at the park and she would play here any time she came home. It’s absolutely incredible that so many people have come out to show support for us. It’s just been fantastic.”
