Dan Yantzi

Dan Yantzi was born in Kitchener in 1957 and started playing fast pitch softball as a nine-year-old in his hometown of Tavistock.

In 1978, as a twenty year old, he moved to the senior ranks with the Kitchener Evergreens of the Ontario Fastball League. He later played for the Waterloo CHYM’rs which later began the Waterloo Twins, where he eventually ended his playing days. From 1988 to 1995, he also served as the team treasurer for the Waterloo Twins.

In 1990, Yantzi led the Waterloo Twins to their first appearance at the International Softball Congress World championships. Over the years, he competed in ten World Championship Tournaments (ISC) and received second team all-world selections in both 1991 and 1993.

Maturing from his younger days as a fire-balling right hander and a dominant pitcher in Ontario, he prolonged his career through a strict regimen of exercise, weight training and diet. In addition, he also added a dreaded change-up pitch to his repertoire. In his last year of active play, he also became Canada’s first player representative to the ISC.

Following his career in sport, he continued to give back to the youth of the community, trying to develop their pitching skills through better mechanical skills, hard work and dedication to the sport.

When Kitchener-Waterloo hosted the 2002 ISC World Championships, Yantzi was inducted, as the first Canadian pitcher, into the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame.

Yantzi is a world-class competitor, a man of convictions and principles, who truly played for the love of the game. He is a professional account, CMA, and currently owns Sketchley Cleaners in Kitchener-Waterloo. He is also the proud father of Aaron and Jordan.