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Four Delta Heat players shortlisted for National Junior Team

Powerhouse 2001 team will be well-represented in Florida come January
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After a third place finish at last month's U19 Canadian Championships, four players from the Delta Heat were named to the National Junior Women's Team Selection Pool.

The powerhouse 2001 Delta Heat fastpitch team is well-represented on Softball Canada’s 27-player 2019 Junior Women’s National Team Athlete Pool that will be holding a selection camp in Florida come January.

Gabrielle Dorval, Kianna Jones, Jessie Westsrate and Rawnie Westsrate have all been shortlisted for the team.

The Heat are coming off another outstanding season that was capped with a bronze medal finish at last month’s U19 Canadian Championships at Softball City. It was the girls’ first of three years competing at that age level. In 2017, Delta won the U16 national championship.

The Junior Women’s National Team coaching staff ran a series of combines throughout Canada earlier this year that was attended by over 500 athletes and scouted several tournaments this summer, including the U19 Nationals.

Dorval and Jones led all Heat players in hitting at nationals — batting .548 and .469 respectively. Jones also had four home runs.

Jessie hit .345 while Rawnie was the workhorse of the Heat pitching staff with a 1.81 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 27 innings of work. 

 “We had the opportunity to watch and work with athletes across every province in the country and saw how hard everyone works towards improvement in this age category” said Keith Mackintosh, head coach of the Canadian Junior Women’s National Team. “Our coaching staff is very confident in this group and we feel this will be a special team.”

Team Canada finished fourth at the previous WBSC Junior Women’s World Championship held in Clearwater, Florida in 2017. The team will be looking to improve on that result and jump onto the podium at next year’s event that will take place August 11-17 in Irvine, California.

Athletes named to the Junior Women’s National Team Athlete Pool are eligible to be invited to Women’s National Team training, development and selection camps. 

The selection camp is slated for Fort Meyers.