Victoria Hayward

Personal: Hayward was a member of the Athletes Unlimited Softball Player Executive Committee from 2020-22, and served as the first-ever Softball PEC chairperson. She was most recently the associate head softball coach at San Diego State. She grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and started playing softball at the age of 7. Hayward has a mini cockapoo named Moose and lists her parents as her biggest inspiration growing up. She lists Washington softball head coach Heather Tarr as a person who has made a difference in her life. Her proudest athletic moment is qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Team Canada. She would be a leadership coach if she was not playing softball. Her hobbies include exploring coffee shops and breweries, taking her dog to the beach, cooking, and learning new things. Hayward was involved in skiing, soccer, volleyball, and track and field growing up. She wears No. 1 because she was the first player to sign with Athletes Unlimited. Her walk-up song is “Wait Your Turn” by Rihanna. She graduated from Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Political Science and also earned her Master’s degree from Massachusetts in 2017.

2023 AUX Season: Hayward earned a share of 20th place on the leaderboard with 792 points. She achieved this by earning 530 win points. She started in all 10 games and had a batting average of .367. She hit two doubles and drove in four runs. Hayward also led the league with three stolen bases and brought in nine runs. In her final seven games, she hit safely in six of them, including three games with multiple hits. On June 25, she went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a double against Team Leach.

2022 Championship Season: Hayward finished in 20th place with 1,302 leaderboard points. She set a league record with 56 at-bats and tied for fifth in the circuit with 18 hits while scoring 12 runs. Additionally, she stole the league-best five bases in six attempts. Hayward hit two home runs with six runs batted in. She opened the season with a nine-game hitting streak before going 0-for-3 against Team Chidester on August 19. She collected three hits with a run scored against Team Harshman in the Week Two opener to finish with a season-high 180 leaderboard points. She also went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs scored, and a pair of runs batted in against Team Chidester on August 13. Hayward closed the season with two hits and two runs scored against Team Chidester, along with driving in two runs.

2022 AUX Season: Hayward closed the season in 13th place on the leaderboard with 1,084 points. She was a starter in 11 games and led the league with a .512 batting average and 22 hits. She hit safely in 10-of-11 appearances and also scored nine runs, which were tied for third in the circuit. Hayward led the league with seven multi-hit games, including four games with three or more hits. She went 4-for-5 with a run scored against Team Chidester on June 14, joining Dejah Mulipola as the only players with a four-hit effort during the season. She opened Series Two with three consecutive multi-hit games, going 8-for-12 with three runs scored during that span. Hayward finished the season with an eight-game hitting streak.

2021 Championship Season: Hayward tallied 1,020 leaderboard points during her second Athletes Unlimited season. She started all 15 games and hit .354 with 17 hits in 48 at-bats. She led AU for the second straight year with seven stolen bases, equaling her own single-season record. She also paced the circuit with seven stolen base attempts. Hayward tied for third in the league with 17 hits, including four doubles, and tied for fourth with two sacrifice hits.

2020 Championship Season: Hayward finished third on the leaderboard with 1,860 points. She also ranked fourth with 1,310 win points and accumulated 470 stat points, good for ninth in Athletes Unlimited. She fashioned a .396 batting average with .459 on-base percentage, tied for the league lead with 53 at-bats, and tied for second with 21 hits. Additionally, she ranked fifth in the league with 15 runs scored, was one of 12 players to record a triple during the inaugural season, and tied for ninth in the league with 31 total bases. Hayward also paced the league with seven stolen bases in seven attempts.

International Experience: Hayward has international experience as the youngest person ever named to the Canadian Senior National Team after joining the team at 16 years old in 2009. In 2019, she was named Softball Canada’s Home Run Sports Female Fast Pitch Athlete of the Year. She led Canada to its first-ever Olympic medal with a bronze medal performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She hit .300 in Tokyo with a team-high seven runs scored, fashioned a tournament-high 10 hits, and seven stolen bases in 2019 WBSC Americas Olympic Qualifier. Hayward helped Team Canada claim a silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games and was named to the 2015 Pan American Games team but was unable to compete due to an injury. She hit .353 with two stolen bases in the 2019 Pan American Games as Canada won the silver medal. Additionally, she has competed in five WBSC World Championships and was a member of the Team Canada squad at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. She went 6-for-16 with a triple and two runs batted in during five games and led all players in the tournament with seven stolen bases.

Other Professional Experience: Hayward was selected by Pennsylvania Rebellion with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2019 NPF Draft. She played the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Rebellion. She was an All-NPF performer with the Canadian Wild in 2019 while earning the Jennie Finch Award. She paced the Wild with 46 hits and a .357 batting average.

At Washington: Hayward was a four-year letter-winner at Washington who played 223 games from 2011-14. She ranks 10th in program history with 176 career runs and stands eighth on Huskies’ career list with 73 stolen bases in 78 attempts. She hit .414 as a senior, which ranks eighth on Washington’s single-season list. Hayward led the Pac-12 Conference with 28 stolen bases during her senior season. She recorded six triples during her junior season to tie for second on UW’s single-season ledger. She paced the Huskies in batting average, at-bats, hits, stolen bases, and runs scored during her junior and senior campaigns. Hayward was a First-Team NFCA All-America selection as a senior and a two-time First-Team All-Region honoree. She earned All-Pac-12 Conference distinction three times, including First-Team notice as a junior and senior. Hayward was also a three-time Academic All-Pac-12 selection and a member of the 2011 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.