INNISFAIL – A team of young female ball players are heading to minor softball’s biggest show.
The Innisfail U15 Hawks softball girls have qualified to play in the Junior Little League Canadian National Championship.
If the local girls win the July 26 - 28 tournament in Victoria, B.C. they will go on to an even bigger show. They will travel the next day to represent Canada in Kirkland, Washington at the Little League Softball World Series.
“This is going to be a top notch and well-run tournament that our team is maybe ever going to go to. This is real, real prestigious stuff, and if we play really well, we have a chance to go represent Canada,” said the Hawks’ head coach, Ray Bergeron.
“We will wear Team Canada jerseys if we win that tournament, and we’ll represent our country. Right now, we're going to battle for that honour but if we do it, it will be a lifelong memory.”
The road to get the girls to minor softball’s biggest national show is an interesting one. This past season the Innisfail U15 Hawks of the Innisfail Minor Ball Association played in both the Softball Alberta and Little League Softball Canada (LLSC) programs, with the latter being the first season for the local team.
LLSC was founded in 1974 and is offered to girls between the ages of four and 16. There are currently more than 360,000 girls playing in Little League softball in more than 25 countries.
The LLSC is also connected to international competitions, and girls teams from all over Canada can compete to play in Softball World Series tournaments.
Bergeron’s Hawks will be facing tough competition in Victoria. Last week he told the Albertan he had not yet seen the full schedule or the names of all the teams that will be competing but he does know Victoria, as the home team, will be represented, as well as Calgary and possibly other teams from B.C.
“Coming off of COVID it’s a down year right now. So, I don't know if there's teams coming from the east and I don't have the full schedule yet,” said Bergeron.
Nevertheless, his squad is pumped. They played in two different programs this season, and did well enough in the LLSC to be invited to the national championship. The team will also play in Softball Alberta’s C level of the provincial championships in Stettler July 15 - 17.
In LLSC competition this season the Hawks played against three Calgary teams at different times, as well as in Little League-sanctioned tournaments in Lethbridge, Calgary and Medicine Hat.
Bergeron said the team went to its first tournament in mid-May to Medicine Hat.
“We did OK. We won a game and lost two games. That was fine. That was our first exposure to it,” he said, noting the Innisfail squad fared better at its next tournament in Calgary, winning two games and tying one.
“And then we went to Lethbridge three weeks ago and beat everybody,” said Bergeron, adding his team after a slow start became stronger and stronger during the season and peaked just in time for what will be highly competitive nationals.
“We're comprised of 13 and 14-year-olds, and we've got really good pitching at the top and we've got a lot of girls that can hit and we play good defence,” he said. “We're a pretty balanced team through and through. We can win games with our hitting but we can also win games by shutting teams down.”
Bergeron said a total roster of 14 players will be going to the national championship. All girls, except for one from Delburne and another from Didsbury, are from Innisfail.
While some expenses are being paid by the LLSC, the Hawks team is busy raising more money, including hosting a bottle drive last week. The team has also sent letters and messages out to local businesses for possible support.
If any citizen or organization is willing to help out the Hawks team Bergeron can be reached at 403-350-6460.
