Team Canada confident heading into Women’s Baseball World Cup finals | CBC News

Despite facing some very tough competition over the coming days, the members of Canada’s national women’s baseball team are feeling good about their chances.

Team Canada is one of six competing in the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup finals, which get underway Sunday at Port Arthur Stadium. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3.

“Obviously there’s some nerves, right?” said assistant coach, and member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Ashley Stephenson. “We haven’t played in a World Cup in a long time. COVID-19 obviously put a dent in, well, everything, not just baseball.”

“We have a lot of really young players, even if they’ve been with us for the last three or four years, they wouldn’t have actually been through a World Cup,” said Stephenson, who was a member of the country’s first national women’s baseball team in 2004, and won silver medals at the 2008 and 2016 World Cup finals.

“We’re just trying to make sure that they play their game like they’re here for a reason,” Stephenson said. “Just picture all the big things, stay in the moment.”

This year’s team, Stephenson said, is a well-rounded one.

“We’re built on speed, have lots of pop at the plate, and have arms that throw a lot of strikes and will put pressure on their hitters,” she said.

But the competition is going to be tough, with Canada facing defending champions Japan, Chinese Taipei, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States over the coming days.

“Everybody goes into these tournaments thinking that ‘Oh well, Team USA, Team Japan, Team Chinese Taipei, they’re really big names’ and they know them all really well, right?” said Team Canada outfielder Cassie Matlock, one of the new faces on this year’s team. “They kind of have this reputation built up.”

She says she has the advantage of coming in and not really know those reputations all that well. 

“We’ve got a new team. Everybody’s got a new team. We’re all just players doing the same thing,” says Matlock.

“Everybody’s putting in the preparation. So just to come in here and be ourselves and do what we came here to do, I think is how we’ll be successful.”

Manager Anthony Pluta, in his second year with Team Canada, said while the team did lose some of its veterans over the offseason, the current lineup is “phenomenal.”

“There’s so many strengths between the leadership of some of the returning players and some of the veteran players, the excitement of the young players who are coming up, and having that fire of: ‘This is the coolest experience of my life,'” he said.”I think we’ve always had a pretty good team that just comes together as as one unit.”

One player who will be familiar to those who watched last summer’s World Cup group stage tournament in Thunder Bay is Alli Schroder. The pitcher works as a wildland firefighter in British Columbia when not playing ball. During a practice last week, she was nursing a burn on her hand she sustained two days prior when she fell into an ash pit.

“The big thing was, it’s not my throwing hand,” she said with a laugh. “I have the glove, but as long as it’s not my throwing hand, that’s the big piece.”

WATCH | Learn more about Alli Schroder, Team Canada’s wildfire-fighting pitcher:

She went from fighting wildfires to hitting fastballs for Team Canada

Hitting a fastball or pitching in a big game for the national team might be stressful for most players, but Team Canada’s Alli Schroder doesn’t mind. She’s seen plenty of stress already this summer fighting wildfires in B.C. 

Schroder said she didn’t attend the team’s selection camp in Ottawa, as she was fighting fires, but she was very impressed with the team during practice.

“A lot of power, a lot of really young talent, but a lot of maturity on the team as well,” she said. “I think that we’re going into a World Cup final the best we’ve ever looked.”

“I’ve told all of them this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.”Having our Canadian fan base with us is going to be huge. Soak it all in. But we’re here to win a gold medal, and lock in as soon as you can and be ready to go forward.”

On the organizational side, Nick Melchiorre, president of the Thunder Bay International Baseball Association, said things are coming together well.

He said the World Baseball Softball Confederation, which oversees the World Cup, was in the city last week to do field inspections, and make sure everything meets international standards.

“The fields look great and our crews are doing great,” he said. “We’ll be ready to go for Sunday.”

There will be three games a day leading up to Saturday’s medal games. Friday has been set aside for makeup games in case there are any rainouts, with Canada playing the evening games each day.

Melchiorre said on player he’ll be watching for during the tournament is 34-year-old Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.

“She’s probably, what I’ve been told, the greatest female baseball player in Japan,” Melchiorre said. “She’ll be making her final appearance as a national team member here at the World Cup, so she’s someone who I’m looking forward to seeing.”

“Apparently she’s a fantastic pitcher and hitter.”

American pitcher Kelsie Whitmore is also on Melchiorre’s list of players to watch.

Whitmore is a “fantastic all around baseball player,” he said. “Probably one of the better athletes that you’ll see” at the tournament.

Whitmore is currently signed to the Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League.

Melchiorre is also looking forward to seeing the Chinese Taipei team in action.

“They have a really excellent team,” he said. “You’ll see a lot of interesting baseball, a lot of bunting, a lot of stealing bases.”

But, Melchiorre said, every team competing in the World Cup finals has a chance at the gold medal.

“There’s going to be very little margins of error between the teams,” he said. “It’s really going to come down to details.”

“And there’s different styles,” Melchiorre said. “You’ll see the United States. A lot of power, a lot of strong athletes. And then you’ll see a team like Japan or Chinese Taipei where where they’re highly skilled: very good pitchers, very good defensively, play a lot of small ball, as they say.”

“So it’ll be a mixture of styles that I think will surprise people. For example, you wouldn’t be surprised with two strikes to see someone from Japan bunt, which is kind of unheard of, but something that they do on an international basis.”

Tickets for the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup finals are available at the Port Arthur Stadium box office, and online.

The tournament officially begins Sunday, July 28, with three games. Team USA faces Venezuela at 10 a.m., Japan will take on Chinese Taipei at 2 p.m. and the day wraps up with a match between Canada and Mexico at 7:30 p.m.

All games will take place at Port Arthur Stadium. For more information, visit the event’s website.