Verge: New Canadian ball hall inductee Psota quiet force on Women’s National Team for 15 seasons
Women’s National Team star Kate Psota (Burlington, Ont.) has been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
February 6, 2026
By Melissa Verge
Canadian Baseball Network
She's not loud, but she doesn't have to be.
From a teenager in 2004 with Team Canada to a seasoned vet in 2018, Kate Psota’s strong presence on the field has always come from what she does, which is help Canada win.
That humble talent will be recognized on June 20 when Psota is inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
After hearing the news, she reached out to Andre Lachance, her longtime manager on the Women’s National Team, to express her gratitude for all he's done throughout her career.
“I said I don't deserve much, all I did was write your name on the lineup card,” Lachance said.
“It was so obvious that she needed to play all the time,” he said of Psota, who helped the team to six World Cup medals, and was named to four World Cup All-Star teams at first base.
The versatile athlete did it all, and is the only player in Women’s National Team history to play every position, Lachance said.
She was a quiet force, the supportive glue that helped keep the team together, bridging the gap between veterans and new talent on the roster. She was the first one to welcome new teammates, he said, sharing not only rules with them but the colourful history of the team.
Her journey to that veteran position started as a six-year old watching the 1992 Blue Jays on TV, and it's a love that has stuck with Psota, now 39.
In that lengthy career, has there ever been a time she didn't want to go to the field?
“Never,” she said.
“I'm still excited to go when I get the chance, I don't think that's ever died.”
Throughout her career, there were many coaches who had a significant impact on her, including longtime Team Ontario coach Sean O’Brien.
One season when they were preparing to go to Nationals she was struggling at the plate, and O’Brien stayed late with her after practice, Psota said. He threw her probably 80 balls and helped end her slump.
Going the extra mile was something he was known for, she said.
“Sean would always take extra time when we needed it,” she said.
Psota herself became a coach after hanging up her glove at the end of the 2018 season, bringing her playing knowledge to a coaching role with the Women’s National Team. In 2023, for everything she's brought to the game, she was inducted into the Burlington Sports Hall of Fame.
Psota will be the fourth woman ever individually inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, joining two of her former teammates for Canada - Ashley Stephenson, who was inducted in 2024, and Amanda Asay, who was inducted last year after her passing in 2022. Helen Callaghan, who played in the All-American Girls Professional League, was the first woman individually inducted in 2021.
Nobody is more deserving of this honour, Stephenson said, of her longtime teammate who will join her in the Hall.
“She's just such a great teammate,” Stephenson said, who was the Dunedin Blue Jays position coach last season. “One of the best I ever had.”
Newly elected Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Kate Psota (Burlington, Ont.), bottom right, was a much loved teammate on the Women’s National Team from 2004 to 2018. Photo supplied.
Those close relationships she made on the field were evident February 5 when the news of her induction dropped.
Psota’s phone was blowing up with congratulations, one of them, a special message from “team mom” aka Penny Fitzsimmons, who served as the business manager for the Women’s National Team for 20 years, from 2004 to 2024.
They're unrelated by blood, but related by baseball. And, in the same five person group chat that blew up that morning when the news broke. Also in the chat are Ashley Stephenson, their former team massage therapist Melissa Doldron, and physiotherapist Jenn Bell.
Fitzsimmons was a bit late to the messages (she's retired now) and woke up to see what she refers to as “her girls” congratulating Psota. She quickly sent her own congratulations.
“It's wonderful that the rest of Canada will now recognize the strong amazing woman that we know and love,” Fitzsimmons said in part of her text. “I'm so very proud of you.”
Former Women’s National Team business manager Penny Fitzsimmons and newly elected Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Kate Psota clearly had some fun together away the field. Photo supplied.
The Australians were even later to the congratulatory party (thanks to a large time difference) but also reached out to Psota, a testament to not only the athlete she was, but the teammate and person.
“I think that's her distinguishing factor, her love for all her teammates and competitors,” Stephenson said.
That love is evident, especially now, as Psota is recognized individually as soon to be one of the newest members of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
For this honour, Psota still credits her teammates, and Stephenson and Asay who she'll join.
“To be in the Hall with them is great, but I think we're all collectively better together – I don't think there was a single time you stood by yourself in those games,” Psota said.
“You always had 19 women beside you or on the bench.”
The induction ceremony is scheduled for June 20 in St. Marys, Ont.