Softball standout Natalie Wideman will compete in Tokyo.
Former California University of Pennsylvania standout Natalie Wideman '14 was recently named to the Canadian Softball Olympic Team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic
Games.
Wideman will be the third former Cal U player to represent the Canadian Softball Team
at the Olympic Games, as Meaggan Wilton (2000 Sydney) and Megan Timpf (2008 Beijing) received the prestigious honor. The sport of softball is returning
to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a dozen years, as it was last played
at Beijing in 2008.
A native of Ontario, Wideman was chosen the 2014 Diamond Sports NCAA Division II Catcher
of the Year as a senior and was a College Sports Information Directors of America
(CoSIDA) Academic All-American at two different positions throughout her career. She
ranks among the top 10 all-time in school history with a .377 batting average and
155 runs scored, plus is one of 13 players to collect at least 200 career hits at
Cal U.
Wideman was selected the 2014 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Player
of the Year and the PSAC Tournament Most Valuable Player after helping the Vulcans
win their first league title since 2000. She led the conference with a .454 batting
average, 49 runs scored and a .535 on-base percentage, as Cal U made a seventh-consecutive
appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The younger sister of two former professional baseball pitchers, Wideman started all
174 games (129 at catcher) in her collegiate career and helped Cal U post a .787 winning
percentage. She was a three-time All-PSAC West First-Team selection (catcher 2011,
2014; second base 2012) and was twice chosen to NFCA All-Region Teams at catcher.
Wideman maintained a 3.90 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) while earning her bachelor's
degree in sport management with a concentration in wellness and fitness.
Since her collegiate career, Wideman has helped Team Canada win gold at the 2015 Pan
American Games in Toronto before claiming silver at the 2019 Pan American Games in
Lima, Peru. Additionally, she aided Canada in winning bronze at both the 2016 (Canada)
and 2018 (Japan) World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Championships.
Wideman is one of 15 players named to the Canadian Softball Team for the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics. She is the only player from an NCAA Division II program featured on the
roster, which features sisters of former MLB players Jason Bay and Brett Lawrie. Team
Canada secured a berth in the Olympics with a top-two finish at the America's Olympic
qualifier in September of 2019 in Surrey, British Columbia.
The Olympic softball tournament is scheduled for July 22-27 with games to be played
at Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium and Yokohama Baseball Stadium. Team Canada is
slotted third in the WBSC women's softball world rankings.