The Canadian Wild, officially the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois, were a professional women's softball team based in

Marion, Illinois The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population in Marion, IL was 16,855 according to the 2020 census. It is part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of early 20th-century coal fields ...

. They were founded in 2019 as part of

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

and are partnered with the

Canada women's national softball team Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the ...

. The team was composed entirely of Canadian players and was essentially the

which allowed the team to play against top competition for most of the year, although there are some other players from Softball Canada on the roster.

History

They made their debut in the

2019 National Pro Fastpitch season The 2019 National Pro Fastpitch season was the 16th season of professional softball under the name National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) for the only professional women's softball league in the United States. From 1997 to 2002, NPF operated under the name ...

, playing out of

Rent One Park Marion Stadium (formerly known as Rent One Park and Mtn. Dew Stadium) is a stadium in Marion, Illinois, that was completed in 2007. It is primarily used for baseball and was previously the home of the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier ...

, in

. They began the season with a six-game series sweep of the

Beijing Eagles The Beijing Eagles, officially the Beijing Shougang Eagles (北京首钢金鹰女垒), were a women's professional softball team. Established in May 2017, the team plays in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). In the 2019 National Pro Fastpitch sea ...

. They finished their first season in third place out of six teams, finishing with a 22–20 record. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the team announced they were withdrawing from the 2020 NPF season, becoming the second team to withdraw from the season, after the

Aussie Peppers The Aussie Peppers were a professional softball team based in North Mankato, Minnesota. They were founded in 2018 as the Aussie Spirit as part of the National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League ...

, due to the pandemic. The NPF eventually cancelled the entire season, as well as the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Current players

References

External links

Official Site
{{National Pro Fastpitch Softball teams in the United States Sports clubs and teams in Illinois National Pro Fastpitch teams 2019 establishments in Illinois Sports clubs and teams established in 2019 Marion, Illinois Softball in Canada