Some of the best young female baseball players in the country have taken the field in Moncton as the city hosts the Baseball Canada 16U Girls Championship for the first time.
The national tournament got underway Thursday at the CN Sportplex and brings together teams from every province across Canada.
“We’ll have one team representative from each province in Canada,” said championship chair Mike Doucette.
With approximately 15 to 18 players on each roster, more than 150 athletes are taking part in the four-day event.
Girls’ baseball has grown rapidly across Canada in recent years, with Baseball Canada now offering championships at the 16U, 19U and senior women’s levels.
Doucette said the sport’s growth has been driven by players and coaches who pushed to create more opportunities for girls who wanted to play baseball rather than softball.
“We would start seeing one, two, three girls in a division, and then we just had some dedicated coaches that started to drive female baseball,” he said. “It just kind of evolved to having leagues across Canada.”
The level of play at the championship is expected to be high and is comparable to competitive boys’ baseball in the 13U to 15U age groups.
Fans can expect a busy schedule throughout the tournament, with seven to eight games scheduled daily on the facility’s two main fields.
Among the teams expected to contend for the national title are traditional powerhouses Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Doucette said Atlantic teams should also be competitive, noting Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick both have strong programs.
While New Brunswick’s girls’ baseball community continues to grow, Doucette said one of the province’s strongest centres is in the Miramichi region, where several girls’ teams compete at different age levels.
The championship game is scheduled for Sunday evening, when one team will be crowned Canada’s 2026 U16 girls baseball champion.
This marks the first time Moncton has hosted the national event. Previous championships have been held in places such as Summerside, P.E.I., while last year’s tournament was part of the Canada Games in St. John’s, N.L.
Doucette hopes local sports fans will come out and support the athletes.
“It’ll be some really good baseball,” he said. “You’ll see some of the top teams across the country at this level.”
Tournament schedules and information are available at baseball.ca under the championships section.
Girls interested in getting involved in baseball can also contact their local association or visit Moncton Minor Baseball for more information.
