Tallahassee, Fla. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team has arrived in Florida for a training camp this week and will play a doubleheader against Florida State University on Wednesday, November 9th, starting at 3:30pm EST, prior to competing in the 2022 WBSC Americas Women’s Pan American Championship in Guatemala City from November 12-19.
Team Canada is currently ranked No. 3 in the WBSC World Rankings. Earlier this summer, the new-look Canadian squad competed in a series of Celebration Tour and exhibition games and the Canada Cup International Softball Championship before competing to a sixth-place finish at the World Games in Birmingham, Ala.
The Pan American Championship will serve as the WBSC Americas Continental Qualifier for the new World Cup format and will include 14 participating teams. The top five teams will qualify for the 2023 World Cup Group Stage, which will consist of three six-team tournaments hosted in Italy, Ireland, and Spain with the top two teams from each of those events and two wild card teams advancing to the 2024 World Cup Finals.
The top six teams from the Pan American Championship will also qualify for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, joining host Chile and the United States who earned a berth as the 2021 Junior Pan American Games champions in the eight-team field.
The 14 teams will open the tournament in two groups from November 12-16:
- Group A: No. 1 U.S.A, No. 5 Puerto Rico, No. 14 Venezuela, No. 16 Brazil, No. 48 Argentina, No. 57 El Salvador, Costa Rica.
- Group B: No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Mexico, No. 22 Peru, No. 30 Cuba, No. 43 Dominican Republic, No. 57 Nicaragua, Team WBSC.
ATHLETES
| FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Ruby | Anderson | Victoria, B.C. |
| Dawn | Bodrug | Georgetown, Ont. |
| Jorde | Chartrand | Wayburn, Sask. |
| Emma | Entzminger | Victoria, B.C. |
| Alysen | Febrey | Peachtree City, Ga. |
| Larissa | Franklin | Maple Ridge, B.C. |
| Sara | Groenewegen | Surrey, B.C. |
| Kelsey | Harshman | Delta, B.C. |
| Kianna | Jones | Surrey, B.C. |
| Kelsey | Lalor | Red Deer, Alta. |
| Janet | Leung | Mississauga, Ont. |
| Madelyn | McKinnon | Surrey, B.C. |
| Grace | Messmer | Cloverdale, B.C. |
| Erika | Polidori | Brantford, Ont. |
| Morgan | Rackel | Calgary, Alta. |
| Natalie | Wideman | Mississauga, Ont. |
COACHING STAFF
| POSITION | NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Head Coach | Kaleigh Rafter | Guelph, Ont. |
| Assistant Coach | Chris Jones | Oshawa, Ont. |
| Assistant Coach | Keith Mackintosh | Melfort, Sask. |
| Assistant Coach | Jenn Salling | Port Coquitlam, B.C. |
| Athletic Therapist | Natalie Ghobrial | North York, Ont. |
UMPIRES
| FIRST NAME | NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Marni | Bodnarchuk | Langley, B.C. |
| Laura | MacMillan | Coquitlam, B.C. |
SCHEDULE
| DATE | GAME | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| November 12 | Canada vs. Peru | 15:30 |
| November 13 | Canada vs. Nicaragua | 15:30 |
| November 14 | Canada vs. Dom. Rep. | 10:00 |
| November 15 | Canada vs. Cuba | 15:30 |
| November 16 | Canada vs. Team WBSC | 18:00 |
| November 16 | Canada vs. Mexique | 20:30 |
For more information, visit the Women’s National Team page on the Softball Canada website.
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For more information, please contact:
Emma Lindblad
Manager – Communications
Softball Canada
p: (613) 523-3386 ext. 3106 | m: (819) 743-2056
w: www.softball.ca | e:elindblad@softball.ca