By Kim J. Harmon

MONTREAL, Canada – Some people are content to confine their summer softball schedules to somewhere within the four borders of Connecticut . . . and still others like to spread their wings and travel somewhere far-flung.

Like Canada.

Earlier this month, Jess Omasta, a soon-to-be junior at Newtown High School, traveled to Montreal, Canada, with the Stratford Seahawks Xtreme 16-and-under softball team to participate in the Montreal Cooper International Fastpitch Challenge.

It was quite an experience.

Jess, 15, began her career with the Stratford Seahawks three years ago with the U14 team. The answer to the question “Why Stratford?” is not hard to figure out when you discover that her father works with Stratford coach John Sabo.

Thus, Jess, a centerfielder by trade not only with the Seahawks but with the Newtown High School softball team as well, started a career with a strong traveling softball program that fields competitive teams in U14, U16 and U18 age divisions.

Each year the Seahawks, operating under the structure provided by the Stratford PAL, field teams that compete in the Central Valley Fastpitch League . . . as well as local and out-of-state tournaments.

For the summer 200 season, the team has drawn its cast of players from Stratford, Trumbull, Fairfield, Redding, Shelton, Bridgeport, Deep River, Beacon Falls, New Milford, Westport, Norwalk, Bethel.

And – of course – Newtown.

This is not just a summer thing for the Seahawks, either. The organization gets its players together for winter training, as well, and encourages winter competition. Jess – along with her Xtreme teammate Nicole Sabo – won the Winter Fastpitch Softball Hitting League Championship in the High School A Division at the All Star Batting Range in Brookfield on Sunday, February 27. Jess and Sabo played – along with Kim Friedrich, Lauren Friedrich and Danielle Anis – as the Brookfield Bombers and put together a record of 9-1. The girls defeated the Westchester Warriors to win the league title.

That got Jess prepared for the spring high school season, where the Nighthawks of Newtown played their way into CIAC Class L state tournament competition. Even though Jess may have struggled at the plate a little, her offense has taken a turn for the better this summer with the Seahawks.

The Seahawks were one of 32 teams to compete in the U16 division of the Montreal Cooper International Fastpitch Challenge. With pre-tournament friendship games, tournament qualifying games, and single-elimination games the Seahawks amassed a record of 7-5 and finished in eighth place.

In the “friendlies,” the Seahawks had a chance to compete against Team France and came away with a 10-4 win.

It was a bit of a rigorous schedule.

From July 3 to July 5, the Seahawks played two friendly games a day for a total of six games – with wins against the Quebec Monteregie (4-2), Team France (10-4), and the New Hampshire Storm (5-1) and losses to the Quebec Laurentides (5-2), the Rhode Island Psycho (8-2) and Virginia Firebirds (6-1).

When the tournament actually started, on July 6, the Seahawks started out with a 5-1 loss to the Massachusetts Fire ‘n’ Ice. On July 7, the Seahawks came back with a 3-1 win over the Massachusetts Jaguars and an 11-7 win over the Quebec Pantheres. The Seahawks finished the qualifying on July 8 with a 5-1 win over the New Hampshire Sharks.

Their 3-1 record in qualifying games made the Seahawks an 11th seed in the 32-team field, where the top 16 seeds were in Division I and the bottom 16 seeds were in Division II. In single-elimination games, the Seahawks defeated the Colorado Comets 6-5 on July 8 and then lost to the third-seeded Virginia Firebirds, 5-0, on July 9.

For Jess, her favorite game was the one against the Rhode Island Pyscho. Even though it was a loss for the Seahawks, Jess got a pair of key hits in that one.

The tough game schedule did not allow for a lot of free time – especially with a game at eight in the morning and another sometime in the afternoon – but the Seahawks did have a chance to ride the Metro and see a bit of Montreal and get totally confused by all the people speaking french.

The Seahawks – who just hosted and won their own tournament – are still on the field. Yet, in just four weeks or so, it looks like Jess will be giving up her bat and her glove for a field hockey stick as the Newtown High School fall sports season rumbles into action.

But that’s Jess – taking it to the Xtreme.