The dream of wearing national colours will soon be a reality a pair of Okotoks students.
Kate Groeneveld and Erika Finney, both 17, and the Southern Alberta Revolution team charge into the Senior League Softball World Series in Delaware from July 29-Aug. 4 as the Canada region titleholders looking to make waves on the international stage.
“It’s really cool, how professional it is and seeing Canada written on your jersey,” said Finney, a Foothills Composite student. “And just being able to represent the whole country in this is really crazy.
“I don’t think it will (sink) in until I’m actually on the diamonds playing.”
The 10-team tournament features six regional United States teams along with international representation from Canada and the Asia-Pacific, Europe-Africa and Latin-America regions.
“We’ve definitely seen some American teams before, but we’ve never seen a team from outside of North America,” said Groeneveld, a Holy Trinity Academy student. “We’re all at the same hotel and we’ve met a lot of the girls already, but it will be interesting.
“I think we’ll see some different styles of softball that we don’t see back in Canada.”
The Calgary-based Revolution have been a revelation on the diamond of late.
The team swept the field at an Ontario travel tournament before cleaning up at provincials and nationals to put a stamp on its spot at worlds with authority.
“We haven’t lost a game in quite a while,” Groeneveld said. “So I think there’s just a lot of confidence and energy.”
At the Canadian finals in the Montreal area last week, the Revolution posted three convincing victories by a combined margin of 43-6.
Groeneveld said she came off a batting slump to register three RBI and two runs in the national final, earning player of the game honours in the 14-4 result over the host team.
“That was an exciting game,” she said. “We had a lot of momentum as a team and went on some pretty batting rounds.”
Groeneveld began her journey in the sport with the Okotoks Outlaws before joining forces with the Foothills Fury, where she volunteers as a coach, and moving to the Adrenaline and Revolution programs.
Finney also played with the Outlaws and Fury programs and found out about opportunities in the city with the Adrenaline program through the Groenevelds.
Both Groeneveld and Finney are in their first season with the Revolution program.
“It’s been pretty exciting,” Groeneveld said. “I’ve never got to do anything like this before so it’s a pretty cool opportunity to represent Canada and wear a Canada jersey.
“We’ve just got a lot of momentum right now. A lot of us have been playing together for quite a few years now and we’ve just got a good bond, good energy and come out hard.”
At the end of the season, the athletes then had to try out for the YYC squad that would be put into Little League competitions. In the end, seven Revolution players made the roster, the rest of which is made up by athletes from other Calgary teams.
“It’s mainly our team from the season,” Finney said. “So we’re really close and know how each other play.”
Finney, who primarily plays first base and hits in the middle of the lineup, said there’s a lot of unknown when it comes to the competition.
“It’s going to be high level ball, everyone is going to be good here,” she said. “So it’s just play our best and we should be good.”
The local duo brings multi-sport athleticism to the diamond with Finney a U18 AAA goalie with the Rocky Mountain Raiders and Groeneveld a part of HTA’s volleyball and track programs.
“I feel really lucky to be on this team,” Finney said. “And since I’m coming to my last few years of ball that this experience can capture all of the memories and bring it into one.”
Canada opens the tournament July 29 versus the U.S. Southeast Region.
The Revolution will be televised with ESPN+ streaming games from Delaware.
For schedule and viewing information, click here.
