Stettler's Ava Greiner's dream of representing her country on the international stage is within grasp.
From July 3-7 in Ottawa, the 17-year-old central Albertan will join 30 other players at Baseball Canada's Women's National Team selection camp to compete for a spot on the final roster for the upcoming Women's Baseball World Cup Finals.
While there she'll be just one of six players from Alberta invited to the camp.
"It means the world," she told The Advocate. "I'm just really excited to go and I'm super happy some of my hard work has paid off. It's just a cool opportunity."
Greiner was first discovered by the Canadian coaching staff after she made the Women's U22 Team Alberta squad last year at nationals. She was scouted and invited by Team Canada to take part in winter meetings along with 40 other players.
From there, the coaching staff made the first 10 cuts, which Greiner survived. Now, those 30 players will compete this week in hopes of making the final 20-player roster.
If Greiner does make it she'll compete for Team Canada from July 28 to Aug. 3 in Thunder Bay, Ont. to play against the top women's baseball players from across the globe.
During the Women's Baseball World Cup Finals, Canada will face Mexico, Japan, the U.S., Venezuela, and China. Japan is currently the six-time defending world champions.
Greiner is surprised to have made it this far in the process. Part of it is because of how young she is. With mostly older players invited, Greiner will be the youngest player to take the field.
"I was not expecting to even make it past the first 10 cuts so I'm just really thankful I get to go and learn from some really good coaches and play with some really good players," she said.
Being the youngest player in the game is a title she's held before. When she was just 12 years old she served as an underage player for the Team Alberta U16 team.
Greiner primarily plays shortstop but also serves as a pitcher. However, while playing for U22 Team Alberta she also played left field. She explained wherever the team needs her she'll be happy to play.
For the last two summers, she's been suiting up for the U18 AA Stettler Storm, which is an all-boys team. She explained playing alongside all boys has been great. Since she has grown up with all of them they've been nothing but supportive of her.
"They're practically all my brothers and I love playing for them," she added.
Greiner grew up playing in slow-pitch tournaments with her family which drove her interest in baseball. Once she was old enough to play she joined and fell in love with the sport.
She started with T-ball before switching to softball. When she was nine years old she made the switch to baseball and hasn't looked back since.
She was also a big-time hockey player suiting up for the Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs. The last two seasons she won back-to-back provincial gold with the U18 AAA squad and most recently, the U18 AA team.
Now that she's graduated from high school she plans to leave hockey behind and focus on baseball. In fact, this fall she'll head to Baldwin City, Kansas to play softball for Baker University.
"There was a girl on my hockey team who knew a guy who knew a guy and I got in contact with one of the coaches down there. He liked me so I'm going down there for ball now. It's funny how it worked out."