Kaleigh Rafter

Biography

One of the longest tenured players on the women’s national team, Kaleigh Rafter has been part of Team Canada since 2007. Since competing at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she has amassed an impressive international resume. At the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship she has competed for Canada in every event since 2010 and was part of bronze medal-winning teams in 2010, 2016 and 2018. She has also competed in the last four Pan American Games, taking home silver medals in 2007, 2011 and 2019 to go with a gold medal at the 2015 competition in Toronto.

At the 2019 WBSC Americas Olympic Qualifier, Rafter hit for a .462 average while swatting three home runs, including the one that walked off the win for Canada to clinch its spot at Tokyo 2020. In her second Olympic appearance, Rafter started six games at catcher as Canada won the bronze medal. 

Rafter’s collegiate career was split between the University of Detroit (2005-07) and Florida State University (2009) where she transferred after the 2008 Olympics to join Coach Lonni Alameda who had worked with Team Canada for the Games. She set a Detroit single season homerun record in 2007 while earning Horizon League Player of the Year honours. Rafter played professionally in Japan for Team Honda for two seasons.

A Little More About Kaleigh

Getting into the Sport: Started playing t-ball at age 4… Her mother lied about her age so that she could join the 5-year-old league… Her older brother played baseball and she wanted to do what he did … Outside Interests: Assistant Coach at the University of Virginia since 2016… Graduated from Florida State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminology… Earned a Masters in Criminology from FSU in 2011 and a Masters in Sports Management from FSU in 2012… Enjoys reading and biking… During off-season likes to travel and visit baseball stadiums… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”… Nicknames: Raffie, K-Raf, Rafter…