We are proud to present the Innisfail U15 Hawks Softball Team with the Team of the Year Award. They made it all the way to Nationals and made Innisfail proud by representing our town against teams from across Canada in Victoria, BC.

The team was made up of 13- and 14-year-old players. They played in many venues throughout Alberta in 2022, playing 36+ games across a 3-month period. This included tournaments across Alberta – travelling to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary.

They were a team that was made up of different strengths – in the words of their coach, Ray Bergeron, “we’ve got really good pitching at the top and we’ve got a lot of girls that can hit and we play good defence. We’re a pretty balanced team through and through. We can win games with our hitting but we can also win games by shutting teams down.” Each girl had a different talent to bring to the team. They pushed each other individually to make the team a success.

They worked as a team off the field of the diamond too. The Hawks were given short notice that they were in the finals for Little League Nationals. When they found out they were headed to Victoria, they made a huge effort to fundraise for their trip. They sought our sponsors, they lead bottle drives and even put in some work on an acreage to raise the funds to do the work to obtain their dream.

Over the course of the season and working toward their goal, it was clear that this group of players truly became a team. They bonded, they pushed each other and in the eyes of their coach they all grew immensely. They are a model for how a team can set a goal and can motivate each other to new heights.  They are a deserving Team of the Year.