Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team will be looking to lock up a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the WBSC Americas Softball Qualifier in Surrey, B.C. starting this weekend. Team Canada is scheduled to open the tournament against Cuba on Sunday, August 25 at 7:30pm PDT.
Canada is coming off a silver medal performance at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru a few weeks ago and completed their inaugural season as the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league last month. The team has won back-to-back bronze medals at the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championships in 2016 and 2018 and is currently ranked third in the World. The two teams ahead of them in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings – the United States and Japan – have already qualified for Tokyo 2020.
The WBSC Softball Americas – Qualifier will take place from August 25 to September 1 with the top two teams earning an Olympic berth. A total of tens teams will be competing in two groups of five, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the Super Round. At the end of the Super Round, the teams with the top two records will earn an Olympic spot.
Teams competing at the WBSC Softball Americas Qualifier will be No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 5 Mexico, No. 14 Brazil, No. 16 Venezuela, No. 17 Cuba, No. 18 Guatemala, No. 19 Dominican Republic, No. 20 Peru and No. 39 Bahamas.
Italy secured their Olympic berth by winning the Europe/Africa Qualifier last month, while the top team from next month’s Asia/Oceania Qualifier will determine the final team in the six-team Olympic field.
CBC Sports’ weekly broadcast staple Road to the Olympic Games will air the home team’s Super Round game on 31 August at 1 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. ET (if Canada advances to the Super Round) on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming device. In addition, CBC Sports will exclusively live stream 24 games of the tournament in the Canadian territory via cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices.
Live scoring will be available at https://olympicsoftball.wbsc.org. For ticket information, visit the tournament website.
ATHLETES
| FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | HOMETOWN |
| 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. |
| Kelsey | Jenkins | Delta, B.C. |
| Danielle | Lawrie | Langley, B.C. |
| Janet | Leung | Mississauga, Ont. |
| Joey | Lye | Toronto, Ont. |
| Erika | Polidori | Brantford, Ont. |
| Kaleigh | Rafter | Guelph, Ont. |
| Jennifer | Salling | Port Coquitlam, B.C. |
| Holly | Speers | Surrey, B.C. |
| Natalie | Wideman | Mississauga, Ont. |
COACHES
| POSITION | NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Head Coach | Mark Smith | Falmouth, N.S. |
| Assistant Coach | Melissa Basilio | Oshawa, Ont. |
| Assistant Coach | Russell Cooper | Tahiti Bay, NZL |
| Assistant Coach | Chris Jones | Oshawa, Ont. |
| Athletic Therapist | Natalie Ghobrial | Toronto, Ont. |
| Mental Performance | Lauren Tashman | Pennington, N.J. |
| Performance Analyst | Carolyn Taylor | Winnipeg, Man. |
| Strength & Conditioning | Scott Willgress | Halifax, N.S. |
UMPIRES
| FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | HOMETOWN |
| Frankie | Billingsley | Edmonton, Alta. |
| Geneviève | Gaudreau | St-Hubert, Que. |
| Scott | McLaren | Penticton, B.C. |
SCHEDULE
| DATE | GAME | TIME |
| August 25 | Canada vs. Cuba | 7:30pm PDT |
| August 27 | Canada vs. Guatemala | 6:00pm PDT |
| August 28 | Canada vs. Puerto Rico | 6:00pm PDT |
| August 29 | Canada vs. Bahamas | 6:00pm PDT |
| August 30 | Super Round | TBD |
| August 31 | Super Round | TBD |
| September 1 | Super Round | TBD |
