A Carbon softball player has been named to the Canadian National Team.
Kristen Boyd, daughter of Heather and Stu Boyd, has been pursuing her softball career for years and is currently playing at New Mexico State at the NCAA Division 1 level. She has officially made the 20-player roster for the Canadian National Women’s Softballl team.
“This is the first time she ever tried out,” her mother Heather tells the Mail.
Kristen has been busy playing for many years. She graduated from Acme School and lettered excelling in volleyball. She started playing ball in Trochu and then played in Strathmore. She made the Alberta Summer Games team. She also made an all-star team and competed in tournaments in the US. When her family saw she was serious they sent out videos of her playing and got into contact with college coaches.
The fielder then attended a Texas Junior College at Temple for two years during COVID, and is now at New Mexico State, going into her third year on a full scholarship.
While she was playing in college, during the summer she would return home and work at the Carbon swimming pool. This year she decided to buck the trend and tried out for the national team.
She went to Vancouver the same day as Carbon Sports Day (precluding the family team from entering Sports Day) and was selected to go to Toronto for the next round of selection camps. Last Sunday they asked her to be on the 20-player roster.
“Not bad for her first time trying out,” said Heather. She’s the only one at this camp that has never been there before.”
So now she is training in Toronto and will shortly be heading to Nashville to play in a tournament. After that, she will compete in the Canada Cup World Series. This is a roster that includes players who have competed at the highest level internationally for years. Canada is currently ranked fifth in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings.
This will give her a taste of ball at the highest level. The 2023 WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage being played from July 22-26, 2023, in Castions di Strada and Buttrio, Italy will only carry 15 players, and she did not make the official roster.
“If there is an injury, she is in the athlete pool and she could be called up at any time,” said Heather. “Kind of like being in the minors. She is second on the depth chart.”
“We just think she is awesome, and if she takes it somewhere, great, but if not she is going to have a heck of a summer.”