Victoria Hayward

This article is about Canadian softball player Victoria Hayward. For the Bermudan born travel writer, see Victoria Hayward (journalist).

Victoria Hayward
Canadian Wild
Outfielder
Born: (1992-04-11) 11 April 1992 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teams
Canadian Wild (2019–present)
Career highlights and awards
All-NPF Team (2019) Jennie Finch Award (2019)
Medals Women's softball Representing Canada Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara 2019 Lima World Championships 2010 Caracas 2016 Surrey 2018 Chiba

Victoria Gran Hayward (born 11 April 1992) is a Canadian softball player for the Canadian Wild. She is an outfielder and bats and throws left-handed. She has played for the Canadian Senior Women's softball team since June 2009.

College

She attended the University of Washington for four years from 2011 to 2014 and played outfield for the Washington Huskies softball program. She was a 2014 All-American and a four-time All-Pac-12 selection. With the University of Washington, she won four NCAA Regional Championships and advanced to the 2013 Women's College World Series.

National Team

Hayward has played with the Canadian Women's Senior National team since 2009 and at 16, was the youngest player to appear for the Canadian national team. She has won five medals competing for Canada - two Silver at the Pan American Games and three Bronze medals at the World Championships. She was named to the 2015 Pan American Games team that won Gold, but was unable to compete due to injury. She is currently training for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Professional

Hayward was the 19th overall selection in the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch draft by the Pennsylvania Rebellion, who she played with in 2015 and 2016. She joined the Canadian Wild in 2019 and in 2020 became the first player to sign with the Athletes Unlimited professional sports league.

Coaching

After finishing her college softball career, she became a coach. She joined Louisiana State University in 2015, where she helped guide the team to a third-place finish at the Women's College World Series. In 2016 and 2017, she was an assistant coach for the University of Massachusetts helping them to back-to-back winning seasons in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, she was an assistant coach at the University of Maryland and was Director of Operations for the University of Central Florida softball team in 2019.

Personal

Born in Toronto, Victoria grew up in Mountain View, California and went to Mountain View High School (MVHS). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Political Science from the University of Washington and a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts.

References

• Reid, John (April 14, 2014), "Q&A with Victoria Hayward, a UW softball standout from Mountain View", San Jose Mercury News
• Kingston, Gary (July 19, 2013), "Victoria Hayward hopes to help Canada climb champion's ladder; Playoff battles begin Saturday in Canadian Open tourney at Softball City", Vancouver Sun
• "Canada Sweeps Doubleheader, Will Play for Bronze at US World Cup of Softball VII", The Canadian Press,  – via Questia (subscription required) , July 2, 2012
• "US Beats Canada 9-1 in Softball Game Marking 40th Anniversary of Title IX", The Canadian Press,  – via Questia (subscription required) , June 23, 2012