Five local softball players are among a group of 26 invited to the Junior Women’s National Team’s (JWNT) Selection Camp this week in Brampton, Ontario.
Jocelyn Cater of Delta, and Surrey residents Holly Speers, Lindsey Ogilvie, Sara Groenewegen and Chelsea Jenner were invited to the camp by Softball Canada. Following the June 17-21 camp, the JWNT coaching staff will announce a roster for the 2013 World Championships July 1-7, which will also be in Brampton.
Players were selected following two regional camps May 23-26 in Cloverdale and June 13-16 in Brampton.
Four of the five players played in the championship game of the 2012 Under-18 Women’s Fastpitch Canadian Championship in Montreal last August.
Cater won the tournament’s Best Pitcher award with a 0.28 earned run average, leading the White Rock Renegades to a national championship with a 1-0 win over the Surrey Storm. Groenewegen was also a member of the Renegades, collecting 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 semifinal win over the Guelph Gators and finishing the tournament with a 3-0 won-lost record and a 0.74 earned run average.
Jenner and Ogilvie played for the Storm at the national tournament. Jenner, committed to San Jose State on a softball scholarship and Softball BC’s Athlete of the year in 2012, was named to the tournament all-star team at centre field with a .400 batting average in the round robin.
Ogilvie was an all-star at first base after batting .394. She also pitched in four games, not allowing an earned run in 13 innings.
Speers, a pitcher/shortstop, played for the Delta Heat ’96 at last year’s Canadian Open. She was also part of the Heat team in 2011 which won the under-16 B.C. championship and placed fourth at the national tournament in Prince Edward Island.
Canada’s Junior national team is ranked fifth in the world by the International Softball Federation, based on the 2011 world championship tournament standings.
n Six national teams will compete in the Women’s International division at the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship at Softball City.
Teams in the Women’s Elite, Futures (18-and-under) and Showcase (under-16-and-under) begin play July 12, but the International competition won’t begin until July 17.
Canada, the United States, Australia, Venezuela, Japan and China-Nanjing will play a round-robin format, with a championship game on the final night of the tournament on July 22.
