Olympic detour

Caitlin Lever Growing up in the shadow of a former NHL player and coach, Caitlin Lever was destined to play hockey in the Olympics.

The 2003 Williamsville South graduate will compete in this month's 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, but not as a member of the United States women's hockey team. Instead, the 23-year-old will start in center field for the Canadian women's softball team.

"I can't say I foresaw myself playing for an Olympic softball team," said Lever, whose parents, Don, a former player and assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres, and Karen, still reside in East Amherst and have dual citizenship.

"It wasn't that I didn't think I was good enough. I always had that naive athlete mind frame that I could do anything, but coming from the Northeast, it's usually not a reality. Usually, kids from the West Coast and Pac-10 schools are the ones who get a look. Making the Canadian team was a total surprise."

Hockey or softball

Lever always knew she wanted to play a sport at a higher level, and for the longest time, she thought hockey was the answer.

Williamsville South 2003 graduate Caitlin Lever is the starting center fielder for the Canadian Olympic softball team at this month's Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Lever, an All-Western New York shortstop at South, had a tremendous career at Georgia Institute of Technology before playing for Canada. File photo "Ice hockey was my whole life," said Lever. "That was my sport. Softball was just a breath of fresh air away from it."

Lever said she started playing hockey when she was 7 because her babysitter, Dave Cannon, needed players for a youth boys team he coached with the Wheatfield Blades. Lever said she played for the Blades' boys teams until she was 14, then switched to girls hockey, competing with the Buffalo Bisons for a couple of years before winning two national titles in 1999 and 2000 with the Syracuse Stars 19U.

Caitlin Lever wore jersey No. 9 and played center/left wing on the ice, just like her father. Don Lever, the third overall pick in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft, accumulated 680 points with five NHL teams from 1972 to 1987, including the Vancouver Canucks, Atlanta/ Calgary Flames, Colorado Rockies, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres.

He was an assistant coach for 12 years with the Sabres and two years with the St. Louis Blues. He has coached the past three years with the American Hockey League's Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal Canadiens affiliate), guiding them to the Calder Cup trophy in 2006-07.

"She was a power forward," said Don Lever of his daughter. "She never went around anybody. She went straight ahead."

Despite the hockey greatness he saw in his daughter, he feels as she got older, she liked softball a little bit better.

"There was no doubt in my mind she could have made the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team, but she didn't have that drive in hockey that she has for softball," he said.

Caitlin Lever said by the end of high school, she was playing on three different hockey teams and was getting burned out. So she turned to her high school softball coach for guidance on playing softball in college.

The Gerry Gentner factor

Caitlin Lever's bio on the Canadian softball team's Web site lists Williamsville South softball coach Gerry Gentner as not only one of the most influential people for her softball career but also one of the most influential people in her life.

"He was the one who made it a realization that this could be a collegiate thing," said Lever.

During the winter of her senior year at South, Gerry Gentner and his brother, Bob, made an eight-minute highlight video of Lever hitting, fielding and running in the South gym, to send out to colleges.

"It displayed 10 to 15 skills for 30 to 45 seconds each," said Gerry Gentner. "She was hitting in the cage, fielding, running from home to first base and sliding head first into home."

Lever said Gerry Gentner also made phone calls and sent e-mails out to college coaches and researched softball programs for her.

"The Gentners are the reason she is where she is," said Caitlin's mother, Karen. "It's unbelievable what they did for her. Gerry was the cog in the wheel that got things going."

Gerry Gentner knew Lever was a special player. An All-Western New York shortstop in her senior year, Lever, who hits left-handed but throws right-handed, is still ranked third all-time at South in batting average (.400) and fourth in runs scored (97) and hits (124). She holds single-season records for runs (39), home runs (seven), consecutive hits (15) and least strikeouts in a season (one).

She was an impact player as early as her freshman year, scoring the game-winning run and turning a double play in the eighth inning to help the Lady Billies defeat Geneva in the 2000 Class B Far West Regional. South went on to win its first state championship with a 23-0 record.

"She had a fabulous career for us," said Gentner. "Besides being a fierce competitor, she is a lefty with breakaway speed who can hit for power plus has the short game of drop, drag and slap. Along with this, she is a great defensive player, mentally and physically tough, and a great leader."

College star

After looking at several colleges, Lever stayed local for her freshman year and played second base for Canisius College. She was ranked in the top 10 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and led Canisius with a .300 batting average. She also helped the Golden Griffins to a conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Wanting to play for a higher conference, Lever enlisted Gerry Gentner's help in transferring to Georgia Institute of Technology, and what a career she had.

She was immediately moved to right field and later started in center field.

In her senior year, she was a top-10 finalist for the USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year and became the second player in school history to earn National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American first-team honors. She was also named to the NFCA All-Southwest Region first team.

Lever finished 2007 with school records for hits, 94, and on-base percentage, .526, each third-best in Atlantic Coast Conference history. She won the ACC batting title with a .452 average, second-best in Georgia Tech history and fourth overall in ACC history, and led the ACC with 155 total bases, second-best in ACC history, and a career-high 20 doubles, fifth-best in ACC history. Her slugging percentage was .745, fourth-best in ACC history. She set a single-game school record against Baylor University with five base hits.

Georgia Tech won a season-best 54 games in 2007 and lost in the NCAA Regionals.

She finished her career at Georgia Tech third all-time in batting average, .377, and stolen bases, 71, fourth in hits, 226, runs scored, 139, and total bases, 340, and fifth in slugging percentage, .567, on-base percentage, .437, doubles, 35, RBIs, 126, and home runs, 21.

Jump to the Olympics

After graduation and not getting drafted by a National Professional Fastpitch League franchise, Lever was asked to join the Chicago Bandits, an NPFL team in Elgin, Ill.

Lever agreed and played three months before traveling to Vancouver to play on a club team in the Canada Cup in the hopes of getting noticed by the Canadian Olympic team. She was invited to a final tryout in Beijing and by last September was on the active roster. She will return to the Bandits in 2009.

"It was a surprise," she said. "There are people who have been in this program for years, and it's not that often that someone walks in and makes the team. I've been blessed."

"It's not supposed to be that easy," said Karen Lever. "It happened so quickly."

Caitlin Lever was nervous of telling her father the good news but he was supportive.

"She's dug her own path," said Don Lever. "She went from nowhere to a partial scholarship and to a full scholarship. It's been fun to watch, and Karen and I are proud of her."

As a tribute to her father, she'll be wearing No. 9 at the Olympics, much like how she wore the number during her hockey days, and when she played softball in high school, college and with the Chicago Bandits.

Caitlin Lever said being a member of the Canadian softball team was intimidating at first as she only knew of one person, former Georgia Tech teammate, Jennifer Yee, but she said she's proved herself on the field that she belongs.

"Playing on the team is a big deal," she said. "You have to find the line of respect and being your own player. It was something that took time to get comfortable in."

Since joining the roster, Lever and the team have traveled around the world, playing exhibition games in Las Vegas, Nev., Chicago, Ill., Kitchener, Ontario, and Japan, and international tournaments in Australia and Canada.

Lever said the Canadian team has a nice blend of experience and younger players who are solid base runners and hitters.

"We 've gotten overlooked in the past," said Lever. "The Canadian team is a growing program. I don't think a lot of people know how much we've changed over the years."

Lever has also had to deal with her first major softball injury. While running out a bunt in practice before an exhibition game in Oklahoma City in late May, she caught the corner of the first base bag and broke the fourth metatarsal on her right foot and suffered a high right ankle sprain, leaving her in a compression boot for almost three-and-a-half weeks.

"It was kind of a bummer but it gives me a new perspective on the game," said Lever. "I'm glad we weren't playing in Beijing yet."

The Olympics begin Aug. 8 but softball does not start until Monday, Aug. 11 when Canada opens with Chinese Taipei at the Fengtai Softball Field in Beijing.

Other Olympic softball games involving Canada are against the Netherlands on Wednesday, Aug. 13; United States on Thursday, Aug. 14; China on Friday, Aug. 15; Australia on Sunday, Aug. 17; and Japan on Monday, Aug. 18. The bronze medal game is Wednesday, Aug. 20. The gold medal game is Thursday, Aug. 21.

Lever's goal is to win a gold medal but is disappointed that softball will not be offered as an Olympic sport for the 2012 Games in London. The International Olympic Committee removed softball and baseball for the 2012 Games.

"I think they pulled the plug at the wrong time when it was growing the most," said Lever. "This Olympics will prove why it should be back in. It will be a lot closer and more interesting and appealing for people to watch."