NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY
Kaitlyn Ross leaps to corral a throw during the K of C Knights' game against Lewistown Thursday, July 18, 2019 at Jeffries Field.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
For many of the Medicine Hat K of C Knights, this weekend’s American Legion North District A Tournament is their first taste of a stage that size, but it’s just another day at the ballpark for Kaitlyn Ross.
The Knights catcher earned her place on Team Canada’s women’s roster for a third consecutive summer after helping Alberta win bronze at the Women’s Invitational earlier this month. The 18-year-old will head to Mexico in August to compete at the Women’s Baseball World Cup Qualifier.
“We’re definitely young compared to past years,” Ross said of this year’s national women’s team. “A lot of the veteran group has left so we have kind of a new team but we’re looking strong all the way around. Every position is solid. We can hit well, we know the game well. I think we’ll be good.”
Ross solidified her place on the roster at Team Canada’s selection camp, which she says featured a couple of intrasquad games and plenty of team bonding. As for her run at the Women’s Invitational, Ross says the Albertans were left wanting more after starting the tournament on a tear.
“We had a good team this year. We were young compared to the rest of the tournament but I thought we played well and the outcome wasn’t what we deserved,” said Ross. “We started off the tournament winning all our games then the last two kind of just got away from us. All around we played really well and it was great competition out there too.”
Alberta kicked off the tournament with a 7-6 win over British Columbia, a 10-9 victory over the prospects squad and a 10-2 blowout over Ontario 2 before falling 18-17 to Ontario and 3-1 to Quebec to find themselves in the third-place game – where Ross and Alberta bounced back for bronze with another 7-6 win over B.C.
While she’ll have to wait until Aug. 15 to fly south, Ross was able to jump right back into the competitive action behind the plate with the Knights. While her play with the team has been limited this summer due to attending school at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask., as well as her duties on the provincial and international stages, Knights head coach Lane Aman said her experience on the diamond and calm demeanour on the dugout have made a massive impact, and will continue to do so at the North District A Tournament this weekend.
“(She’s) a huge jolt to our lineup and to our team defensively as well, getting to plug her in late in the season is big for us on both sides of the baseball,” he said. “I’m sure that she’s played on much bigger stages than this now, so she’ll be someone that the rest of the team will get to feed off of given that she’ll be calm and feeling loose.”
While it’s not Mexico, Ross says she’s thrilled to be able to compete in a tournament of this calibre right here at home.
“It’ll be good,” she said at a Thursday practice. “Being able to sleep in our own beds, having the home crowd, being able to eat good, and just it being our own diamond, it’ll be good to stay at home and be close.”
The Women’s Baseball World Cup Qualifier runs Aug. 18-25.
