Larissa Franklin

Larissa Franklin was born in Maple Ridge, B.C. and got her start in softball playing for the Ridge Meadows Softball Association and the White Rock Renegades before heading south of the border to begin her collegiate playing career. Franklin played three seasons at Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) and set new school records in stolen bases with 72 and hits with 217 before transferring to Western Kentucky University. In her single season at WKU, she tied the school's longest hit streak at 15 games. She finished her collegiate career with 213 games played, a .398 batting average, 287 hits, 173 runs, 69 RBIs, 91 stolen bases and 70 walks. Franklin later had the opportunity to play in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) with the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois in 2019, producing 25 hits in 34 games played.

Franklin has been a part of the National Team program since 2011 when she competed as part of Team Canada at the 2011 WBSC Junior Women's World Championship in Cape Town, South Africa. Her first action with the Women's National Team came in 2013 at the World Cup of Softball and the WBSC Americas Pan American Championship. Since then, she has been a mainstay in the outfield for Canada competing in multiple international events including the 2014, 2016 and 2018 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championships, helping bring home Bronze medals at the latter two events. She was part of the Gold medal winning squad at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, and led Canada with 8 hits and a .444 batting average to help Canada to a Silver medal finish at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Franklin also represented Canada at the 2019 WBSC Americas Qualifier, helping the team qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by batting .353 and leading the team with 2 triples.  

Q&A

What is your university degree and where did you play softball? Psychological Science Minor in Nutrition at the University of Western Kentucky
What’s your favourite food? Cereal
What’s your favourite book? The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
What’s the best movie you’ve ever seen? Happy Gilmore
What’s your pre-game ritual? Hacky Sack
What’s your favourite place that softball has taken you? The Netherlands for the 2014 World Championships
What are your future aspirations? Work for the Vancouver Police Department

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2013 WBSC Americas Qualifier - Silver
2015 Pan American Games - Gold
2016 WBSC World Championship - Bronze
2017 WBSC Americas Qualifier - Bronze
2018 WBSC World Championship - Bronze
2019 Pan American Games - Gold