Ottawa, Ont. – Softball Canada is pleased to announce the 2023 Junior Women’s National Team program coaching staff. Head coach, Keith Mackintosh (Melfort, Sask.), will be joined by assistant coaches Melissa Basilio (Oshawa, Ont.) and Trevor Ethier (Saskatoon, Sask.).

In addition, Softball Canada has named five additional coaches to the Junior Women’s National Team Coaches Pool. Those coaches are Jamie Baker (Oshawa, Ont.), Courtney Gilbert (Delhi, Ont.), Michelle Webster (Vernon, B.C.), Brad Pelletier (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que.), and Allison McMillan (Langley, B.C.).

Keith Mackintosh (Melfort, Sask.) will be entering his fifth cycle with the Junior Women’s Team and third as head coach. He served as assistant coach in 2013 and 2015, before becoming head coach in 2017. He most recently led Canada to its first-ever medal at the Junior Women’s level with a bronze medal at the 2019 U19 World Cup. Keith was a member of the Men’s National Team for eleven years, competing in two World Cups winning one bronze medal in 2009 and two Pan American Games with gold medals in 1999 and 2003. He currently plays for the Melfort 222’s at the Master’s level.  

Melissa Basilio (Oshawa, Ont.) returns to the program after serving as the head coach of the Junior Women’s National Team from 2013-2015. She began her coaching career with Team Canada in 2006 as an assistant coach with the Junior Women’s National Team that participated in the WBSC Junior Women’s World Cup in 2007. She served as the team’s head coach at the 2013 event in Brampton, Ont., and in 2015 in Oklahoma City. In 2009, she was named an assistant coach with the Women’s National Team, and helped lead Canada to numerous medals, including gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and bronze at the 2021 Olympics Games in Tokyo. A four-year collegiate softball player at the University of Delaware, she served as an assistant coach at Winthrop University from 2005-2010.

Trevor Ethier (Saskatoon, Sask.) has been a member of the Junior Women’s coaching staff since 2017. He cites the 2017 World Cup in Clearwater Florida, and the bronze medal at the 2019 U19 World Cup as highlights of his time with the Junior Women’s program. Ethier is a former Men’s National Team athlete who was a member of the 2003 Pan American Games gold medal winning team and a member of the 2009 WBSC bronze medal winning team. He currently leads a high school softball academy at Tommy Douglas High School.

Jamie Baker (Oshawa, Ont.) is currently serving as head coach at Durham College, where he has been coaching in different roles since 2013. During his time as a pitching coach, Durham College went on to win four OCAA consecutive championships from 2015-2018. In his first season as head coach in 2021-2022, he helped bring home the school’s 21^st OCAA Softball Championship.

Courtney Gilbert (Delhi, Ont.) is a former member of the Women’s National Team program. She was a member of the Elite Women’s Team from 2016-2018 and a member of the Junior Women’s National Team that finished fourth at the 2015 World Cup. Gilbert also competed at the NCAA Division 1 level for the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Detroit Mercy. At the coaching level, she currently is a head coach at the D1 Nationals Softball Association, where she also serves as the Association President, Recruiting Coordinator and Mental Performance Coach. She is also the head coach of the Brock University softball team.

Michelle Webster (Vernon, B.C.) was a student-athlete at Kansas Wesleyan University from 2007-2009, where she became an assistant coach from 2009-2011. In 2014 and 2017, she was the Team B.C. head coach at the North American Indigenous Games, leading Team B.C. to a gold medal in 2014. Most recently, Webster was named the head coach of the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2021 and in 2022, she led her team to a Canadian Collegiate Softball Association bronze medal.

Brad Pelletier (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que.) is in his seventh year as a head coach in the Team Quebec softball program. Most recently, he led his U19 Team Quebec squad to a silver medal at the Canada Summer Games and a bronze medal at the Canada Cup in 2022. Pelletier is the owner of the “Academie Softball Double Jeu” which helps with youth development in softball in Quebec.

Allison McMillan (Langley, B.C.) has been a softball coach for eleven years, with experience coaching at the provincial and club levels. From 2020-2022, she was the Team BC U18 Women’s assistant coach, where she helped lead them to a gold medal at the 2022 Canada Games.  In 2017, McMillan was a member of the Canada Summer Games Women in Coaching Apprenticeship Program with Team BC Women’s U21. She was a member of Team BC when they won a gold medal at the 1997 Canada Summer Games.

The WBSC has recently changed the World Cup competition format from a two-year to a four-year cycle. The next U18 Women’s World Cup cycle will consist of five continental qualifiers to be held in 2023, followed by the World Cup Group Stage (18 teams divided among three different locations) in 2024 and the World Cup Finals (8 teams) in 2025. An explanation of the full World Cup competition format can be found on the WBSC website.