Claire Eccles (born October 25, 1997) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player. She is a left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

who throws three pitches, including a

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This ch ...

. She has been a member of the women's national baseball team of Canada, and has competed in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2016 Women's Baseball World Cup The 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup was the 7th edition of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, the biennial international women's baseball world championship tournament. The competition was held in Gijang, South Korea from September 3 to Septem ...

s as well as the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: * 15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak a ...

. In 2017, she joined the

Victoria HarbourCats The Victoria HarbourCats are a summer-collegiate baseball team located in Victoria, British Columbia. The HarbourCats play in the West Coast League (WCL), a collegiate summer baseball league. The team's home games are played at Victoria's Royal ...

of the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCC ...

and became the first woman to play in that league. She was also a member of the

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

team at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Baseball

Canadian National Team

Eccles made her international debut at 16 in the 2014 Women's Baseball World Cup. She appeared in one game and pitched four scoreless innings as the Canadian team finished in fourth place. In 2015, she competed in the women's baseball tournament in the 2015 Pan American Games. It was the debut appearance of women's baseball in the Pan American games, and the Canadian team won the silver medal. The team would again take silver at the 2016 Women's Baseball World Cup, with Eccles going 1–0 with a 0.00

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...

over 8 2/3 innings and recording five strikeouts.

West Coast League

On May 16, 2017, the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League, a collegiate summer baseball league, announced the signing of Eccles. Following the announcement,

R. A. Dickey Robert Allen Dickey (born October 29, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Bra ...

, a knuckleballer pitching in the major leagues, posted a message of congratulations on Twitter. On June 8, Eccles made her HarbourCats debut against the

Wenatchee AppleSox The Wenatchee AppleSox is a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the West Coast League's North Division. The team is based in Wenatchee, Washington. The team was established in 2000 by owner Jim Corcoran and has played its home games at Paul ...

, becoming the first woman to play in the WCL. She entered in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

and pitched two innings, giving up one hit, one walk, and two runs. On June 18, Eccles made her first

start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms * ...

and earned her first

win Win or WIN may refer to: * A victory Arts and entertainment Film * '' Win!'', a 2016 American film Literature * ''Win'' (Coben novel), a 2121 novel by Harlan Coben * WIN (pacifist magazine), published by the War Resisters League * WIN (wrest ...

for Victoria, as the HarbourCats won 11–2 in a non-league game against the

Kitsap BlueJackets The Kitsap BlueJackets were an amateur baseball team located in Bremerton, Washington. They played in the West Coast League, a collegiate summer baseball league, from 2004 to 2016. Kitsap called the Gene Lobe Field at Kitsap County Fairgrounds ...

, a former WCL team. She appeared in eight games for the HarbourCats in 2017. The team announced on its website that she will be returning for its 2018 season.

Pitching style

Eccles throws three pitches, a

two-seam fastball A two-seam fastball is a pitch in baseball and softball. It is a variant of the straight fastball. The pitch has the speed of a fastball and can also include late-breaking action caused by varying the pressure of the index and middle fingers on t ...

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curv ...

and knuckleball. Although she throws a knuckleball, she uses her pitches evenly and does not consider herself a " knuckleball pitcher".

Softball

Eccles was a member of the softball team at the University of British Columbia. Unlike baseball, she did not pitch, but played the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

. In her sophomore season, she hit .293. In her junior season, she hit .358 and was named a second-team all star and gold glove award winner for the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, Claire 1997 births Canadian female baseball players Baseball pitchers Living people Baseball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in baseball Victoria HarbourCats players UBC Thunderbirds players Canadian softball players Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games