Team Canada aims to win its way into 2024 Women's Baseball World Cup as qualifier gets underway
CBC
The Canadian national women's baseball team may have already qualified for next year's World Cup championship, but that doesn't mean they'll be taking it easy on the field in Thunder Bay, Ont., this week.
Team Canada is one of six international squads playing in the 2024 World Cup Group A Qualifiers, with games getting underway Tuesday, while the Group B qualifiers will be played in Japan next month.
But even though Canada has already earned its berth in next year's World Cup — which will also take place in Thunder Bay — head coach Anthony Pluta said the team, which is ranked third in the world, still has something to prove.
"Yes, we don't have to win to be able to go in next year," Pluta said. "We don't want to drop too much in the rankings and have us go into a World Cup almost feeling like we didn't deserve to be there. We're coming in trying to win our way in."
Canada will play its first game of the tournament Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET when they face Mexico at Baseball Central.
"I think what you're going to see out of us is the never-give-up, grind-style baseball," Pluta said. "We've got some hard-throwing pitchers on the mound. We've got a little bit of power at the plate.
"We're going to be a gelled group that is able to come out and grind our way through as many wins as as we're supposed to have."
Given the players on the team are from all across Canada, Pluta said leadership is important if the squad is going to form a cohesive unit on the field.
"Some of the older players, and more experienced players that have been here are able to make make the welcome nice with the younger talent, then doing some things off-field, doing some team bonding, some experiences."
That includes taking in the Thunder Bay Border Cats in a Northwoods minor-league game last Friday. But Pluta said there won't be too many opportunities for off-the-field team-building this week, given the hectic schedule in Thunder Bay.
Veteran infielder Zoe Hicks said when it comes to any pre-game jitters that may be felt by newer players, it's a matter of "reminding them that it is a game, right?"
"It might be a little bit more pressure, it might be a little bit of a bigger stage than they're used to," said Hicks, who plays on both the Canadian national women's baseball and softball teams. "But baseball is supposed to be fun, and we all love it so much.
"So just to be able to take that breath and say, 'OK, we're focusing on the simple things, right?' Catching the ball, throwing the ball, playing the game, how we love it."
Hicks got into baseball by chance, after the Team Manitoba coach saw her playing ball with her senior team in her hometown of Boissevain.