AMHERST – Carly Jackson has already represented her country in sport and she’s working toward doing it again in another sport.
The 21-year-old Hastings native was a member of the silver-medal winning U21 Prospects team at the 2018 Senior Women’s Invitational Baseball Championships in Montreal earlier this month.
“It was an amazing experience to play against the best women’s baseball players in Canada,” said Jackson, who is in her fifth year working with Baseball Nova Scotia, this year as a technical director. “As a team, we did very well. It was probably the best a prospects team has done at this tournament.”
Jackson, who pitched and played third base, was one of three Nova Scotians on the team. Ellie MacAulay, 15, of St. Peter’s pitched and played the outfield and 17-year-old Katie Hagen of Dartmouth pitched.
The Prospects team went 4-2 in the round robin before defeating Alberta in the semifinal and losing to Ontario in the final.
Jackson had five hits in 12 at bats in four tournament games, hitting four singles and a double while driving in five runs. She also pitched against the eventual tournament champions from Ontario as well as against Quebec.
“I’m very happy with how it went. I got to play with some amazing people and it was pretty cool to go up to bat against some of the best women’s players in the world like Clare Eccles and Amanda Asay,” Jackson said. “Amanda Asay was the MVP of the world cup in Korea. It was pretty neat to bat against her.”
She said it was also an awesome experience in that she had read about members of the national team and got to compete, and pitch, against a number of them at the tournament.
Jackson, who is a member of the U21 Nova Scotia team, was scouted for the prospects teams at last year’s national tournament. She received a call in March inviting her to the prospects team.
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Her coaches for the tournament were members of the national team coaching staff, including head coach Ken Mackenzie, and assistants Grant MacDougall and Doug Strohan, and the event was an audition of sorts for the club.
“It was a scouting combine for the national team and I had a chance to be chosen for the national team. Unfortunately, I didn’t get chosen, but seeing the level of baseball I was playing I am very happy with the experience I had. I got to work directly with the national team coaches.”
Jackson is hopeful she’ll get another shot at making the team next year.
She will again be competing as a member of the Nova Scotia U21 team at the national championships in Manitoba later this summer.
Jackson will soon be hitting the ice again to prepare for another season in goal for the University of Maine Black Bears. She had an excellent season in Maine last year, playing a integral part in the success of the Black Bears program, earning Hockey East defensive player of the week in January.
“I stayed off the ice for a couple of months because it’s so important to me mentally to get that break,” she said. “Now, I’m itching to get back on.”
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
