Tributes pour in for Prince George athlete who died in skiing accident near Nelson

Photo: Glacier Media

Andre Lachance knew when the going got tough, he could always turn to Amanda Asay – his "PhD pitcher" – to think of a way to lead the Canadian women’s baseball team to victory.

Whether it was with her bat or her throwing arm, Asay never failed to deliver the goods.

The medals they won together speak volumes about how effective his right-handed chucker from Prince George was at the highest levels of the game.

That joy turned to sorrow in the sporting world Friday when Asay died at age 33 after she fell into a tree well while skiing at Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson.

“She was a great teammate and she made everyone better around her,” said Lachance, who coached Asay with the national team until 2018. “She started as a catcher and moved to first base and then became one of the best pitchers in the world after that. That says a lot about her skills on the baseball field.

“She was always looking for better ways of doing things, always being curious, always looking for ways we could win by getting more information on an opponent. She was a really curious ball player and when you’re curious your innovation and creativity and performance will emerge. The girl has a PhD, and that tells you lot about the fact she likes to think about how to be better as a person and better as an athlete.”

Asay joined the national team as a 17-year-old in 2005 and was a starter right away, helping Canada win bronze at the first WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup in Taiwan in 2006. She captured all-tournament honours playing first base and was the team MVP.

Starting out as a catcher, Asay’s broad shoulders and powerful limbs better suited her to pitching and she became the ace of the national team and was always one of the top hitters. Known for her fastball, she added a breaking ball to her pitching arsenal over the years as she developed her elite qualities. In 2016 at the World Cup in South Korea, she pitched a complete-game 2-1 victory over Chinese Taipei to send Canada into the final. Asay helped Canada to the silver medal in 2008 and 2016 and was a bronze medalist in 2006, 2012 and 2018. She also was a huge factor in Canada’s silver medal win at the 2015 Pan-Am Games in Toronto, which marked the first time women’s baseball was part of a major multi-sport event.

Asay played for 15 years on the national team and was a leader on and off the diamond. Lachance, who started the team in 2004, handed over the coaching duties to Aaron Myette in 2018 to become the team’s general manager and Asay was being groomed to become a national team coach. She was six years older than any of her teammates but still had the skills to compete at the world level and was preparing to play in a qualifying tournament this year for the next World Cup.

“I wouldn’t hesitate to call her the greatest player in Canadian women’s baseball history - she’s considered that by many,” said Jim Swanson, who brought the World Baseball Challenge international tournament to Citizen Field and invited Asay to make the ceremonial first pitch for one of the games. “She was with the national team so long, during its formation, and was one of the founders of that from the players’ side.”

Asay played NCAA softball and hockey for three seasons while earning a bachelor’s degree in science. She transferred to UBC in 2009 and went on to complete a master’s degree in science and a doctorate in forestry, while playing two seasons as a forward with the Thunderbirds hockey team.

Asay worked as a forester for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources and Rural Development based in Nelson, where she continued to play hockey this winter.