It might have been the best kept secret, but you knew it would eventually be released and we can only assume that it wasn’t an easy task for Head Coach Mark Smith.
It’s been a long time coming, but we are hearing that Softball Canada released the names of the twenty-one (21) Athletes named to the Women’s National Team Athlete Pool for the 2020 season.
Currently they are training full time and will compete at various events leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.
Mark Smith, Softball Canada’s High Performance Director and Head Coach of the Women’s National Team program mentioned “It is nice to have the Olympic qualification behind us and to be able to shift our focus to prepare for the Olympic Games.”
He continued “A lot of hard work went into preparing for the 2019 season, however the next eight months will define how we will be remembered in Canadian softball history.”
Team Canada had a very successful 2019 season, winning the Gold medal at the Canada Cup, the Silver medal at the Pan American Games and earning an Olympic berth at the WBSC Americas Softball Qualifier.
The athletes who have been named to the 2020 Women’s National Team Athlete Pool are:
| FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Lauren | Bay Regula | Trail, B.C. |
| Jenna | Caira | Toronto, Ont. |
| Emma | Entzminger | Victoria, B.C. |
| Larissa | Franklin | Maple Ridge, B.C. |
| Jennifer | Gilbert | Saskatoon, Sask. |
| Sara | Groenewegen | Surrey, B.C. |
| Victoria | Hayward | Toronto, Ont. |
| Morgan | Howe | Poway, Calif. |
| Karissa | Hovinga | Edmonton, Alta. |
| Kelsey | Jenkins | Delta, B.C. |
| Danielle | Lawrie | Langley, B.C. |
| Janet | Leung | Mississauga, Ont. |
| Joey | Lye | Toronto, Ont. |
| Callum | Pilgrim | Abbotsford, B.C. |
| Erika | Polidori | Brantford, Ont. |
| Morgan | Rackel | Calgary, Alta. |
| Kaleigh | Rafter | Guelph, Ont. |
| Victoria | Rumph | Drayton, Ont. |
| Jennifer | Salling | Port Coquitlam, B.C. |
| Holly | Speers | Surrey, B.C. |
| Natalie | Wideman | Mississauga, Ont. |
The Women’s National Team Selection Criteria, athletes named to the Women’s National Team Athlete Pool are eligible to be invited to Women’s National Team training, development and selection camps and international events.
Athletes may be added or removed from the National Team Athlete Pool at any time at the coaching staff’s discretion.
The full schedule will be announced at a later and time.
We’ll keep you posted!!!
Reflecting back to 2015 we got inside info from Mark Smith
