Fruitvale's own, Ella Matteucci, is in Surrey this week playing for Team British Columbia in the Baseball Canada Senior Women Invitational Championship.
The second base player and pitcher, led the provincial team to the silver medal two years ago in the same tournament after a disappointing loss to Ontario in the gold medal game. In last year’s championship, Team B.C. went a disappointing 0-3 but Matteucci led all B.C. hitters and was third overall in batting with a .429 average.
In an interview after their silver medal win, Matteucci said she wished that the game had turned out differently, but now the team has another chance at winning the top spot.
On Thursday, Matteucci and the British Columbia team faced Quebec at 7 p.m. in their first matchup of the tournament with a game against Nova Scotia today and last year's gold medal winners, Ontario, on Saturday.
The gold and bronze medal games for the tournament will be played on Sunday afternoon.
In 2012, Matteucci was named to Canada's national senior women's baseball team, but decided to pass up the chance to play in the worlds in Edmonton to return to school and focus on hockey, her other passion. As long as Matteucci plays out the invitational this year, she is eligible for selection to this year's national team, which will be heading to Miyazaki, Japan for the IBAF Women's Baseball World Cup.
In warmer weather, Matteucci puts on her cleats, but once the temperature drops, you will see her lacing up her skates and throwing on a hockey helmet.
The two-sport athlete plays hockey for Clarkson College in Potsdam, N.Y. where she helped lead the school's team to their first national championship with the Golden Knights this past March. The team dethroned the two-year NCAA women's hockey champs from Minnesota.
She is also an instructor at Trail's annually held Champions Hockey School.