Jacki Nichol
Athlete (2005)
Softball
Jacki joined the Canadian national women's softball team in 1998, won a silver medal at the 1999 Pan-American Games at Winnipeg and was shortstop and captain of the Canadian team, at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2002 world championships.
Jacki was born in Swift Current in 1972 and moved with her family from Calgary to Saskatoon in 1978. Her first experiences on the diamond came with a T-ball team when she was five years old and later played for Fairhaven Community teams.
Jacki was a leading scorer for E.D. Feehan high school and also played for the Basketball Saskatchewan team at a World Youth tournament and the 1989 Jeux Canada Games in Saskatoon.
In ringette, she played for the Flyers, Chargers and Braves at the Saskatoon level and helped Regina Stingers win provincial titles, 1985 through 1986, playing in three national championships, twice winning all-star honours.
In softball, she soon became regular at Canadian tournaments, first with Lorne Lazers at the midget nationals, five years in a row with the Lazers at the juniors and seven times with the Saskatoon DBJ team at the senior nationals.
After twice playing for Canada in the world juniors, Jacki joined the Canadian senior team for the world championships and Olympic qualification tournament in Japan. The special medal moment occurred during the 1999 Pan-American Games where the whole Canadian team rejoiced in winning silver medals during the tournament at Winnipeg.
Also special was the trip to the Olympic Games in Australia where the team played well, but didn't earn any medals. They lost five games by one run and four of them happened in the 10th inning. Jacki met Tommy Lasorda, former major league manager, who was managing the American baseball team in Sydney and Lasorda was an encouraging figure for the Canadian team.
Jacki was the shortstop and captain who got a big thrill being able to play for Canada when the world women's championships came to Saskatoon in 2002, her last year of competitive softball.
Jacki was honoured as Saskatoon Kinsmen Athlete of the Year and Saskatchewan Softball's woman athlete of the year, both in 2000.