Dione (Meier) Blackwell

Athlete (2024)

Softball

Having Dione Meier on the pitching mound means special delivery.

Even in pee wee softball she was bringing the goods, winning a provincial title with the Saskatoon Phantoms in 1995. She won bantam provincials with the Phantoms, midget provincials with the Selects and junior provincials with the Delisle Red Sox.

When she hit senior ball Meier had her signature pitch. The riser is a breaking ball that moves up and away at the plate. To make it work, she needed the right mix of grip and backspin, release and follow-through. Developing the skill took time.

Armed with the pitch, Meier turned a batter goofy-footed.

In her two seasons of junior college ball with the Galveston Whitecaps of Texas, Meier averaged 9.5 strikeouts a game.

She transferred to Nicholls State in Louisiana. In her first start for the Colonels, she threw a no-hitter. She is second all-time on the Division 1 team in career strikeouts.

After completing a degree in Health Sciences, she went to Perth and played for the Western Australia Flames. She won the European Cup with Italy’s Macerata club.

Returning to Canada, Meier played for the Delta Sunfire of B.C. in the 2006 Canada Cup international tournament. She joined Saskatoon DBJ Leasing for the 2006 Canadian senior championship and was named the top pitcher and MVP in the event. The national team noticed. In 2007 she was a 25-year-old rookie on Team Canada that finished third in the World Cup in Oklahoma City and won silver at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

With the 2008 Olympics in reach, Meier trained in Saskatoon in the off-season with Erin Cumpstone and Don Bates in the gym at the YWCA and in Montgomery School.

Mission accomplished. All three of them were in the Games in Beijing, Bates as Canada’s assistant coach, Erin Cumpstone the starting catcher and Meier a relief pitcher. Canada finished fourth.