Colgate softball head coach Melissa Finley has been added to the Canadian Women’s National Team coaching pool. Finley was a player in the Women’s National Team Program from 2003 to 2005.
“It is a great honor to be able to represent Canada and I am really excited to be a part of the National Team Coaching Pool,” said Finley. “To transition from being a part of the program as an athlete years ago, to now be able to give back as a coach means a lot to me and I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
Finley enters her fifth season at the helm of Colgate softball. The London, Ontario native has coached five student-athletes to All-Patriot League status. The Raiders have made a pair of Patriot League Tournament appearances during Finley’s tenure (2013 and 2015). She coached Colgate to its first Patriot League Tournament victory in four years during the 2015 season.
Finley was a member of the Canadian National Softball Team and played in the 2003 Pan Am Games, the 2003 and 2004 Canada Cup, the 2003 U.S. Cup, and the 2005 International Sports Invitational.
Prior to arriving at Colgate, Finley spent the previous four seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Penn. Penn won the 2012 Ivy League South Division title as her first recruiting class led the way for the Quakers.
As a student-athlete, Finley was a four-year All-Ivy League performer at Princeton and graduated in 2005 as the program’s home run leader for both a season and career. She connected for 14 round-trippers during her sophomore campaign of 2003, when she was named Ivy League Player of the Year.
Those 14 homers remain the Princeton record, and she finished with 37 career bombs while leading the Tigers to three Ivy League titles. Finley still ranks among Princeton’s career top-10 in 11 different offensive categories, but showed her versatility by also pitching her way to a 22-20 career mark in the circle.