HBIC Summer Project: The Current Stars

The Sunday article on an AAGPBL star who had a significant tie to hockey was interrupted yesterday by a blockbuster trade in the NHL, but that wasn't the only reason it didn't make an appearance. The 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup is happening this week, and there are a pile of players on the Canadian squad who are pulling double duty when it comes to their summer sport of choice and their winter sporting endeavour. Personally, I'm very excited to see Canada take on the world on the diamond, and my hope is they'll play well and bring home a medal against a number of nations where winter just means more baseball. Canada's roster, though, does have a number of multi-sport athletes, and some of those athletes play a little puck when the snow covers the Canadian baseball landscape!

Some of these incredible women have already been covered here on HBIC as we've known two of them for some time now, but there are a few who still play the game that haven't had the spotlight shone on them. We'll do that today as we get everyone set for Canada's first game against Mexico on Tuesday evening as Group A games get underway from Thunder Bay, Ontario at the 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup!

It's hard not be impressed by the level at which Madison Willan plays any game - hockey, baseball, and golf - when it comes to succeeding. I had started writing about Madison's baseball skills back in 2019, and she was instrumental in Canada bringing home a bronze medal from the 2019 COPABE World Cup that year. I also wrote about her multi-sport talents in 2020 during my Women in Baseball Week here on HBIC, and I was lucky enough to see her play in-person thanks to the 2022 Women's Invitational Baseball Tournament being held in Stonewall, Manitoba. Willan's back in Canadian colours in Thunder Bay, and I suspect she'll be a major factor in Canada's success at the tournament as she was a force last summer for Alberta in Stonewall at the Women's Invitational Baseball Tournament.

Of course, Canada West fans know her well as one of the dynamic scorers on the Alberta Pandas hockey team, and she was a factor in helping Team Canada pick up the 2023 FISU World University Games gold medal in hockey. The Earth and Atmospheric Science student showed solid play at both ends of the ice, helping Canada to their best finish in a decade. She'll be back on the ice this winter with the Pandas as they seek to add another U SPORTS National Championship to their legacy, and a large part of their success will come from the stick of Madison Willan!

Another one of Canada's gems on the diamond is catcher Kaitlyn Ross who makes baseball look easy. I wrote about her skills during the 2020 Women in Baseball Week here on HBIC, and I got to witness those skills when she visited Stonewall with Team Alberta for the 2022 Women's Invitational Baseball Tournament. Ross is back behind the plate for Canada at the 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, and her game-calling abilities combined with her defensive play behind the plate will factor into Canada's success as much as her bat will! Catching is never an easy position with all that gear they wear and the mental game of calling for pitches that will fool batters, but Ross has been showing everyone from Redcliff to Medicine Hat to Thunder Bay and beyond that she's one of the best backcatchers in all of Canadian baseball!

Ross is, of course, coming off what might be her best season on the ice in her career as she backstopped the Mount Royal Cougars to their first-ever U SPORTS National Championship title with her incredible effort in the net. While the Cougars missed out on the Canada West title, they regrouped in Montreal, defeated Toronto and Montreal, and then played one of the most incredible final games in the history of the tournament that ended in overtime thanks, in part, to Ross's 29 saves in a 4-3 win. I've said for a long time that Ross was one of the best netminders in U SPORTS, and she certainly earned that title in helping Mount Royal win the Golden Path Trophy!

Another woman who will be suiting up for Canada at the 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup is Oakville, Ontario's Emily Baxter. Back in 2015, Baxter became just the sixth female in Junior League World Series history to participate in the tournament when she suited up for the Oakville Whitecaps, and, despite being a two-sport star, she prefers baseball over the one played on ice! She helped Ontario win a 21U Women's National Championship gold medal in 2017, and she'll be looking to make waves at this year's Baseball World Cup! In Canada's warm-up games in Thunder Bay against the Play it Again Sports Lakers, Baxter filled a number of positions including in the outfield, at second base, and taking swings as the designated hitter. She's clearly one of the best ball players this country has to offer, so it'll be fun watching her take on the world with her teammates!

Baxter also knows the role of education in helping her attain her goals, and that's why she attends Toronto Metropolitan University where she suits up as a member of the Bold women's hockey team! The fourth-year player will be looking to push the Bold deep into the OUA playoffs this season after a solid 13-point season last year. Baxter, a Biomedical Science student, also won the Claude LaJeunesse Award for highest GPA among Bold varsity student-athletes for the second consecutive year! How incredible is that? Well done, Emily, and we look forward to seeing you in the Bold's blue-and-yellow again this season!

The final player we'll highlight that's still playing both sports at a high level is Pierrefonds, Quebec's Sena Catterall. Catterall started playing at age nine, and quickly moved up the ladder in Quebec as both an outfielder - specifically centerfield - and a backcatcher. She's starred with Team Quebec for the last four years at national tournaments, and she cracked the Team Canada roster in 2019 ahead of the World Cup qualifier in Mexico as a 17 year-old. In 2019, she earned the opportunity to be one of eight Canadians among 64 high school students who took part in the inaugural edition of Major League Baseball's Grit Invitational, an all-girls baseball tournament held in Arlington, Texas. This week, she'll be in red-and-white as she looks to earn wins on the world stage!

Sena isn't just scoring hits on the diamond, though. She's also scoring goals in the winter as a member of the NCAA's Clarkson Golden Knights! She was highly sought-after by a number of teams including Brown, UVM, Concordia, Bishops, UDEM, and McGill after scoring 44 points in 29 games for CEGEP John Abbott College, but she chose Clarkson where she's studying engineering as a freshman. In 42 games with Clarkson this season, she scored six goals and four assists, adding one goal while shorthanded and one as a game-winner! Catterall appears to be carving out a nice two-sport future with both baseball and hockey, and we'll see if she can improve on that ten-point rookie campaign this winter!

Without a professional women's league for baseball, these women represent the best of the best ball players we have to offer when it comes to women's baseball. They also are playing at a high level when it comes to hockey, and there could be professional opportunities on the horizon for any or all of them if they choose to follow that path. Whether it be the PWHPA, the SDHL, or another league, hockey may hold their sports futures for the time being, but there's no doubt that these women would grab a glove and bat if the country asked them to play.

Canada plays Mexico in their opening game on Tuesday. Hong Kong is the opposition on Wednesday before Canada meets the powerful American squad on Thursday. They'll round out the round-robin by playing Korea on Friday and Australia on Saturday. We'll see how Canada stands after those games, but you can track the action via the 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup website and on the Twitter feed for Baseball Canada Women's National Team.

The Canadian women have the skills and talent to win a gold medal at the 2023 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, and they'll get major contributions from these four women. I look forward to watch Madison Willan, Kaitlyn Ross, Emily Baxter, and Sena Catterall hit dingers, rattle balls off the wall, set the bases on fire, and defend the field like the stars they are! Who knows what the future will bring when it comes to baseball, but I have a feeling that these four women, along with a number of their teammates, will be talked about and biographied just as I'm doing with the women of the AAGPBL. GO CANADA GO!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!