NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat K of C Knights catcher Kaitlyn Ross throws the ball back to her pitcher during her team's A American Legion Baseball doubleheader against the Tri-County Cardinals on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at Jeffries Park. The Redcliff native and Team Canada opened the COPABE Women's World Baseball Cup with an 11-1 win over the Dominican Republic.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Kaitlyn Ross is heading back to the national stage.
The 18-year-old Redcliff product will temporarily step away from her role with the Medicine Hat K of C Knights next week and head down the road to Okotoks to compete for her province at the Baseball Canada Women’s Invitational Championships.
“It’s always exciting representing my province, and the girls that I play with are always a fun bunch,” said Ross, a catcher who will suit up with Team Alberta at the tournament, which runs July 4-7. “I love playing with them and the calibre of ball is just really up there. It’s just a really fun experience and an honour to represent my province.”
Ross spent her school year competing with the Notre Dame Hounds baseball and hockey squads at Athol Murray College in Wilcox, Sask., and is now entering her second summer season with the Knights. She’s also the only female on either ball team.
While she’s grown used to the situation, Ross says it’s still nice to have the opportunity to compete at a high level on an all-ladies squad.
“I would say it’s a better experience because it’s all girls. You’re not the only girl on a boys team, you’re with a bunch of other girls so you can have more fun,” said Ross, adding she still thinks playing on boys teams has helped with her development. “I think it definitely helps with the calibre and the skill set, just playing at that level. It just gives you that edge, rather than playing with girls. Obviously girls can be good but guys are just stronger so they throw harder and you get used to that higher calibre.”
Ross just joined up with the Knights after finishing her school year with Notre Dame, playing her first two games with the A American Legion Baseball squad Wednesday – a 6-4 loss and a 6-4 win against the Tri-County Cardinals.
Knights head coach Lane Aman says the team will definitely be missing its catcher when she heads to Okotoks next week, but added he’s looking forward to seeing both what she can do on the field with Team Alberta, and how she employs that experience upon her return to the Knights.
“We don’t like when we miss out on having her but we’re always happy for these opportunities that she keeps getting. We’re more than happy to let her go there and have a fun time and develop as a player and get to experience these really cool things,” said Aman. “She’s a stabilizing force behind the dish. She thinks the game really well, she throws it well. She’s just a good catcher, but moreso just that stabilizing force, that baseball sense that she has is the most elite part of game.”
Ross is no stranger to the national or international stage. The right-handed catcher been lacing up her cleats with Team Alberta for the past few years and cracked Team Canada’s senior women’s roster in 2017. Ross competed for her country at the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Viera, Fla. last summer, and says national selection camp is slated to take place in the days following the Women’s Invitational Championships.
“They’ll do a little selection camp with like 25 people and they take 20,” she said. “It’ll be the next couple of days after (the tournament).”
The Knights managed to take over an early 4-0 lead to open Wednesday’s doubleheader when Evan Morrison and Hayden Hall struck for back-to-back RBI doubles then Carter Krauss added an RBI single in a third-inning rally. But the Cardinals pushed back with five runs in the fifth then added an insurance marker in the sixth before closing down the victory.
“We’ve got to keep the foot on the gas pedal there,” said Aman. “We got up four runs
and we kind of got into a lull offensively and defensively. It’s just a matter of staying focused.”
Hall led the Knights with 2 RBI, while Krauss went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a walk and Ross was 0-for-1 with two walks.
Knights starter Jack Didack took the loss despite holding the Cardinals to five unearned runs on just two hits and three walks through 4 2/3 innings. Didack also struck out four. Peyton Eddy entered the game in the fifth and held Tri-County to a run on three hits and two walks over the final 2 1/3.
Medicine Hat flipped the roles in the nightcap, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth including Cale Ferguson’s RBI single that gave them the lead. Ross had two hits while Kobe Coderre struck out the side in the seventh for the win.
