McFarland: No ordinary Zoe, Women's National Team MVP also a softball star
Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) was named 2023 Women’s National Team MVP. Photo: Baseball Canada
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on March 6. You can read it here.
March 8, 2024
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
She filled up two passport pages in 2023, and if Zoe Hicks has anything to say about it, she wouldn’t mind doing it all again in 2024.
Representing both Softball Canada and Baseball Canada during the year, she often found herself flying from one event to the next with little rest in between.
Hicks wouldn’t have it any other way though, as her passion and energy around the diamond is evident when we sit down for a Zoom chat in December.
She had just received the news that she was named the Baseball Canada Women’s National Team Most Valuable Player in just her second season with the team.
“I was really fortunate this year to be able to play both softball and baseball as the events lined up basically perfectly,” Hicks told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
“For me, I’m trying not to get too wrapped up in it too much, but to be able to have my feet on the ground, be where my feet are and really enjoy the moment with both teams.”
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Zoe Hicks here.
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It’s been a seamless transition for Hicks to play both sports, as she hopes to be a leader and inspiration both on and off the fields.
FREQUENT FLYER MILES
It should come to no one’s surprise that Hicks is comfortable on the move.
She was born in Neepaw, Man., then spent six months in Regina, Sask., before her family moved to Red Deer for a few years.
Hicks and her brother Zak followed their father to Austria for a year when she was in the eighth grade, then came back to Canada for most of high school in Calgary before moving to Boissevain, Man., to follow her athletic dreams in grade 12.
Her journey took her to junior college at Iowa Western where she was a two-time Academic All-Region honoree and named to three different All-America teams.
She then reached her goal of playing Division I softball with LA Tech in 2019, where she says her proudest moment was receiving her first scholarship cheque.
“Just the weight of that sitting on me was so much larger than I had imagined,” Hicks said. “It was so much more than the monetary value of the cheque – it was something that I had set out to do and I found a way to make that happen.”
She helped the team get to the regional championships in her first year, then was named to the C-USA Commissioners Honor Roll in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
BIG LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
Not only did she spend the pandemic time working on her game, but Hicks found a different way to get involved with the game she loves.
Through the MLB’s “Take The Field” program, she took part in seminars to work on data analytics with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hicks says she put together a lot of organizational reports in her first full year with the team, liaising with coaches and scouts at different levels while compiling data charts so everyone was on the same page about where every prospect was in their development.
In her second year, she was determined to push herself to coach and understand more about baseball.
The Dodgers were accommodating by offering her an opportunity to coach first base during some fall instructional and spring training games.
“A lot of that was just me asking, ‘Hey, can I go do this?’” she said. “I learned so much by involving myself, basically being thrown into the fire, and picking up so much from the organization.”
Hicks says the Dodgers are never resting on their laurels or depending on the things they have done for generations, instead focusing on getting better by experimenting.
A WHIRLWIND 2023
Heading into 2023, Hicks thought she would give softball one more chance, heading to a regional Softball Canada tryout in Saskatoon.
She got the call to head to a main training camp, and she was named to the roster where she would be able to represent Canada at the World Cup group stage and the Pan Am Games.
That commitment forced her to resign from her job with the Dodgers, but allowed her to fulfill a dream of representing her home country.
“I used to be the 12-year-old girl sitting in the stands, dreaming of having my feet in the dirt on the field,” Hicks said. “So that first time, our arms wrapped around each other, singing the national anthem, it was really an indescribable moment for me.”
While she admits she was in her “feels” to start that first game, the softball first baseman quickly made a name for herself with a pair of hits, two walks and steady defence as Canada qualified for the 2024 World Cup.
She then packed her bags and flew back to Halifax to play third base for Baseball Manitoba at the Baseball Canada Women’s National Championships, which is the tournament used to select the Women’s National Team.
Hicks’ plane arrived early on a Saturday morning with just enough time for her to suit up and play in a doubleheader for her home province.
Manitoba went 3-2 during the tournament, while Hicks went 5-for-11 in 15 plate appearances with five runs scored and two runs batted in.
More importantly for Hicks, her performance caught the attention of national team coaches, who named her to the roster.
Luckily, the southpaw’s next flight was fairly short as she joined Baseball Canada for the World Cup baseball qualifier in Thunder Bay, Ont.
If she was suffering from any jetlag, she wasn’t showing it, as she went 6-for-9 with six runs scored and three RBIs as Canada finished with a 4-1 record and a spot in this summer’s six-team World Cup back in Thunder Bay.
Her year wasn’t done though, as she went back to Louisiana Tech to prepare for the Pan Am Games, then flew to Toronto for training camp before heading Chile.
Hicks was a consistent presence at the plate with several hits in the round-robin, then helped Canada claim bronze by driving in two runs in a 7-0 win over Mexico.
Despite the whirlwind, she takes it all in stride in calling it a huge honour to represent her country in two sports.
“I’ve always strived to be the best at everything that I do, regardless of what it is,” said the 5-foot-8 Hicks. “Whether it’s folding laundry at home or playing softball on the field, for me, it’s a lot of confirmation that the hard work that I put in was on the right path.”
BETTING ON HERSELF
When an athlete earns a year-end award, the logical follow-up question becomes, “what do you do for an encore?”
As much as she could take the easy way out and talk about the things she learned over the year, Hicks says the most important thing to do was to actually appreciate what she accomplished.
“I’m not trying to take anything, I’m trying to give back as much as I possibly can,” she said. “For me, I definitely want to take a second, pause and look backwards towards the people who poured into me, look at the organizations I’ve played for, and how I can give back to them.”
Hicks has called Calgary home for the last two off-seasons, where she coaches at Absolute Baseball.
She says she loves getting into the fine details of young athletes’ swings or defensive work, but she also wants to pass on her passion for the game and some of the lessons she’s learned along the way.
“Bet on yourself – bet on yourself always,” Hicks says. “Trust the passion that sits in your entire chest, whether it’s baseball, softball, drawing, painting, singing, whatever, trust you, trust your gut and trust your passion.”
You can hear the fire in her voice. The 26-year-old wants to make a difference and be a good example for anyone looking to follow their dreams.
Hicks understands she’s living proof of her own words and recognizes that she’s been able to travel, get an education, give back to her communities, represent her country and make her family proud with her determination to the game that means everything to her.
“There’s no Zoe Hicks without softball and baseball,” she says. “It’s intertwined with who I am and what I do and what I care about and what I’m passionate about – I just love it with every fibre in my body.”
As it turns out, the schedule might work in her favour as well, with the Softball Canada World Cup slated for July 15-21 in Italy and the Women’s Baseball World Cup set for July 28-August 3 in Thunder Bay.