Some of the best women's fast pitch players in the world descended on Whitehorse Monday, as the Canadian and American senior national teams get set for a two game exhibition series at the Pepsi Softball Centre starting tonight.

It's the first trip this far north for most of the players and staff, and will provide them with an opportunity to test out facilities in advance of the International Softball Federation Women's World Championship in 2012.

"It's an absolutely beautiful place to see,” said Canadian head coach Mark Smith, one of the only members to visit the Yukon previously. "It's a great opportunity to not only see the facilitities, but experience the community and expose the fans to this level of softball.

"They can see exactly what they'll be treated to in 2012.” Sixteen countries will be represented in Whitehorse in 2012, including: Canada, Argentina, Australia, Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United States and Venezuela.

With that much skilled competition, U.S. outfielder Kaitlin Cochran agrees a visit beforehand is important.

"It's always nice to have a sneak peek. This could be a really great advantage for us over the other teams.”

Both the American and Canadian squads medalled at the recent world championships in Venezuela — gold and bronze respectively.

So the rivalry between the two remains alive and well. Which means even though it's exhibition, fans can expect quite a show.

"It's definately always a battle with Canada,” said Cochran. "They're great competition, a great team and a great group of girls. The rivalry gets better and better each year.”

"Anytime we play the U.S. we want to win,” added Canadian catcher Erin Cumpstone, a 10 year veteran with the national team. "It's always great ball.

We split the series in Vancouver 2-2, so it's going to be a battle.”

The Canadians will draw on their experience in order to gain victory, as well as what Smith calls a balanced attack.

"We've got good young pitching, vets who are hittting the ball well, and rookies who not only hit well but provide that excitement back in the game,” said Cumpstone.

For the Americans, the game plan is similar. Head coach Jay Miller said depending on the day, his crew can win with offence or defence.

"Typically, we have pretty good team speed. Obviously we do a fairly good job putting runs on the board, but we play pretty well defensively too.”

During their visit, the teams will also be conducting practices. Canada hit the field at 11 this morning while the Americans will warm-up at 4:30 p.m. Practices are open to the general public.

"This is world-calibre softball,” stated Miller. "We won at the world championships and Canada took the bronze, so two of the top three teams in the world are here.

Really, this is the best women's softball you can see.”

"Most of us have been playing ball since we were five or six years old,” added Cochran. "So we just want the fans to see us play and show our passion for the game, see how much we love it.”

If the exhibition series this week goes well, Smith said it's possible the two teams may come back through in 2011 for some more action.

Game time both today and Wednesday is 6:30 p.m., with a $5 charge per person at the gate.