There'll be plenty of returning softball players as well as a fresh mix of new faces with Team Canada's 2024 roster, which has been finalized.
Canada's national fastpitch team will compete in the upcoming Canada Cup International Softball Championship, which runs from June 28 to July 7 at Softball City in South Surrey. The roster features nine athletes from the Surrey and Fraser Valley Region who are central to the team's success.
Boasting a blend of seasoned and emerging talent, the roster includes six members from Canada鈥檚 2020 Olympic softball team and 13 athletes from the 2023 WBSC World Cup Group Stage, where their efforts secured Canada鈥檚 spot in the World Cup Finals. It also includes 16 athletes who competed in last year's Canada Cup, while five new faces will make their debut for the Canadian women鈥檚 national team.
Returning White Rock pitcher Sara Groenewegen was a key member of the team that won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, throwing three shutout innings. She also won gold in 2015 at the Pan American Games. Part of the Canada women鈥檚 national softball team for a decade, Groenewegen attended Elgin Park Secondary and then the University of Minnesota, where she was a three-time All-American. She recently finished her first season as an assistant coach with the Stanford University softball team, according to a Canada Cup release.
Maple Ridge's Larissa Franklin also won bronze with Team Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and a silver medal at the WBSC Americas Pan American Championship. The outfielder鈥檚 resume also includes a silver with the WBSC Americas Qualifier in 2013 and bronze at the WBSC Women鈥檚 Softball World Championships in 2016 and 2018. In addition, Franklin helped the team win gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, silver at the 2019 Pan Am Games and bronze at the 2023 Pan Am Games.
Infielder Kelsey Harshman, from Delta, won bronze for Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and also won bronze at the 2018 WBSC Women鈥檚 Softball World Championship in Japan. Harshman has a degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin, where she started every game while playing for the Badgers from 2015-2018, the release notes. She also set school records for on-base percentage (.527), runs (180), and walks (181). She is set to enter her fifth year with Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball for the 2024 Championship season in Rosemont, Illinois.
Abbotsford has two players on the 2024 roster, with the city's Callum Pilgrim returning to Team Canada. Pilgrim, head coach of the Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders softball team in Kentucky, which is also her alma mater, was an alternate for Canada at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.The outfielder was a member of the bronze medal-winning Team Canada roster at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile as well.
Another Abbotsford native, Katie Korstrom, makes her Canadian national team debut at Softball City this summer. Currently attending Azusa Pacific University, the Abbotsford native was dominant on the mound with an 18-7 record and a 1.41 ERA this season. She also made an impact at the plate with a .330 batting average.
Infielder Grace Messmer from Cloverdale has been named to the roster for another year. Messmer started 42 games this past season for the Beavers at Oregon State University, starting all 50-games and leading the team with eleven doubles. Messmer, a graduate of Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, won bronze with the 2023 Pan-Am Games Team.
Surrey's Kianna Jones, who plays for South Carolina University, also returns to the roster. In 2022, Jones was a bench coach for the Macron Bacon, the first-ever female coach with the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league. A Burnsview Senior Secondary grad, she is a three-time provincial state champion and two-time national champion with Surrey Storm 2001A. The outfielder also represented her country at the Pan Am Games last summer, helping the Canadians secure the bronze medal.
Infielder Madelyn McKinnon, also from Surrey, plays with UNC Greensboro after spending last year with McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. She played for the White Rock Renegades 鈥�04 and is a graduate of Semiahmoo Secondary School.
CC Wong will be making her national team debut after a dominant collegiate season with the Wichita State Shockers. The Port Coquitlam native was named Softball America鈥檚 Most Improved Player and was selected as a First Team All-American, posting a .470 batting average with 50 RBI鈥檚 in 50-games.