For many years in Canada, young athletes played hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer. That was true nearly a century ago, and it remained common throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Every April, skates were put away and replaced by a glove and a pair of cleats until September.

That tradition has gradually faded over the years, particularly with the rise of hockey development camps held throughout the summer.

But not for everyone.

The first Quebec player selected in the most recent PWHL Draft, Sena Catterall, followed that same path for many years: hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer.

In fact, this summer will be her first without baseball—a genuine loss for the 24-year-old athlete.

“It's sad,” admits Catterall. “Some of these girls I've been playing with for almost a decade and I won't be able to play with them anymore. But I've been seeing some of them here and there, so at least I still have my friendships with them. I will definitely miss the game, miss being out on the baseball field, for sure.”

It was a decision she made only after careful consideration with her agent.

“It was a conversation with my agent that we had had that we really wanted to show the teams that my focus this year was on hockey, not only to get drafted, but also to make a team. I want to make sure that during the summer my focus is on hockey. I'm training and getting on the ice a little bit more. But, also, I didn't want to risk any injury, just in case.”

“I think it was the right decision, especially with the travelling. I would have played in the women’s league here in Quebec. It’s a four-team league and there are a lot of games in Trois-Rivières and Quebec City and Rimouski. So, it would be a lot of travelling. Last year, I was on the road like three times a week, so I missed out on some hockey practices here and there because of that.”

Catterall began playing baseball at around the age of eight after giving up soccer. It was love at first sight.

“I find baseball a very strategic sport, and I think I like that. The mental side of it, always having to be focus, always knowing the count, knowing how many outs there are, I just always had to be on. And I kind of like that. The mental stimulation of it.”

A native of Pierrefonds, Catterall patrolled centre field and enjoyed tremendous success on the baseball diamond, particularly over the past few years.

In 2023, she received the Ashley Stephenson Award, presented annually to a member of Canada's Women's National Team in recognition of her on-field accomplishments, team spirit and leadership.

Like Catterall, Stephenson—the first woman inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame—also played hockey. She suited up in both the NWHL and the CWHL alongside Jennifer Botterill, Cheryl Pounder, Sami Jo Small and Brianne Jenner.

Catterall became just the second Quebec player to receive the honour.

The following year, she was named Canada's Senior Women's National Team Most Valuable Player, thanks to her performance at the Women's Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Ont.

“I was around 10 years old when I started playing for Lac St. Louis. And at the time, I didn't know that there was also a Team Quebec. So, I only joined Team Quebec when I was about 15 and I played the U16 tournament for two years and then I went up to the senior level and played those championships. And then when I was 19, I made team Canada for the first time.”

In addition to making several spectacular catches, she hit .500 while leading the tournament with eight runs scored and six stolen bases. She was also named the tournament's Best Defensive Player and earned a spot on the All-Star Team, becoming one of only three Canadians to receive the honour. Canada ultimately captured the bronze medal.

Despite her impressive résumé, opportunities to make a living playing baseball remain limited.

The first professional women's baseball league in more than 25 years, the WPBL, will launch in August with just four teams.

Baseball, however, will continue to influence her hockey career.

“Well, one thing I would say is the mental side of the game. There's a whole different side of it than just, hey, I'm going to hit the ball or I'm going to run or I'm going to catch the ball. There's a lot of more to it that you keep just learning and learning every time you step out on the field. I brought that mentality over to hockey that there's always something to learn whether it's a new skill or a play or type of system. There are always things that you can learn. So that's really helped me with my hockey IQ, but also just the athleticism in general. Running and diving for balls and sprinting to bases and reading timing on, like, stolen bases and stuff like that, and reading the ball in the air. I think that helped my athleticism a lot.”

Selected 51st overall by Manon Rhéaume and the Detroit franchise, Catterall will now have the opportunity to prove herself with one of the PWHL's four expansion teams.

A First Team RSEQ All-Star in 2022, she also won a collegiate championship with John Abbott College, where she played alongside another Quebec player selected in last month's draft, Naomi Boucher. Despite receiving interest from every university in Quebec, she chose to continue her career at Clarkson University, where she completed a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in just three years before pursuing an MBA during her final year of university.

After recording 10 points in 42 games as a freshman, Catterall began to showcase her offensive potential with 14 goals in 36 games during her sophomore season. She then followed that with back-to-back seasons of nearly a point per game, posting 37 points in 40 games and 33 in 35 games last season. Over those three campaigns, she also scored 50 goals in 111 games.

She credits much of that development to her head coach, Matt Desrosiers, who has led the Clarkson program since 2008.

“I think he really allowed me to play a role that was to my strength. He had me the first year when I was trying to find my game, trying to learn the game a little bit more, and he had me playing more of a defensive role as a shutdown line, and that kind of allowed me to see the impact a shutdown line has or a defensive role has. He had a lot of trust in me, which I appreciate so much. I think he saw the hard work that I put in and knew that if he told me, hey, go play this role, that I'd go and do it. So, he put me with some skilled players, and I knew that my job on that line was to be the forechecker or the go-getter of the puck or even just on the power play. He wanted me to stay in front of the net, and that's what I did. He put a lot of trust in me and told me, ‘Hey, Sen, this is your role. This is what I want you to do.’ And I was like, okay, perfect. And I tried to do that role to the best of my abilities.”

Last season, she was also named team captain.

“It was definitely hard with the team that we had last year just because we had a lot of new players. We had 11 freshmen and six transfers, so we were almost a whole different team. So, a lot of it was trying to make sure that the new players understood what our standards were at Clarkson and making sure that everyone was up to standard. But honestly, a lot of that came from just the way that I practise. I tried to lead by example, you know, and so they were able to see, like, hey, our senior captain here is doing this. I'm going to do that. But I definitely learned a lot about leadership this year. It has helped me see players differently and also the team as a whole differently, and learned that not everyone needs the same things and not everyone needs the same support or just how to talk to different types of people and different types of players and stuff like that.”

Just a few months after the conclusion of her collegiate career, she finally heard her name called early in the fifth round of the PWHL Draft.

“As soon as the league came out, that was kind of a goal of mine to be drafted and to be on a team. Whether I was putting up the points or not, that was kind of in the back of my mind. I just made sure that I was working hard in practices, working hard in some extra skill sessions to make sure that that goal was attainable.”

A lifelong fan of the Montreal Canadiens, Catterall comes from a hockey family. Her father, Chris, played the sport growing up, as did both of his sisters.

“It’s really from my father’s side. His sisters played in college at Queens and at Waterloo, I believe. My mom never played. She came from Portugal when she was young to Montreal. She played a lot more of the soccer and those kinds of sports, but never really got into hockey.”

In fact, her father was by her side in Detroit when she was drafted.

“It was awesome. I mean, I wish my mom was there. My mom could have been there, but she's a lawyer, so she had court scheduled that week, unfortunately. But yeah, having my dad there, I think it was a little bit of a full-circle moment. He definitely got a little emotional and it was just nice that he was living that experience with me too. I could really feel his pride and how happy he was. And in that very stressful and anxious environment, it was nice to have someone with me that was telling me, hey, it's going to be okay whether you get drafted wherever you go, you know, we're still going to be proud of you. We're still going to be happy. We're still going to be here to support you. And that just meant the world to me to know that he was by my side. And my mom might have not been there, but I had the same support from her from back home, texting me throughout the draft, watching the draft and just waiting anxiously as well. And just knowing that whatever happened that night, that I'd still have her support and that she would still be super proud of me, which was just everything I could have asked for from them.”