TORONTO – There’s no ambiguity about what Canada’s women’s baseball team aims to accomplish at the Pan Am Games this summer. They plan to win gold.

“We want to win. We want to end up on top. We know our opposition. We know it won’t be easy, but we know we can, too,” says manager André Lachance. “We have high hopes, but at the same time I think everything’s achievable.”

This summer the Toronto Pan Am Games will include women’s baseball, marking the first time the sport has been featured in a multi-sport international games. The 18-player roster recently assembled by Lachance will face off against teams from the United States, Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico when competition begins July 20.

Aside from the fact that women play seven innings, instead of nine, the game resembles MLB closely. It’s 90 feet between the bases, 60 feet, six inches to home plate, and the teams use hardballs. Players run recognizable drills during pre-game infield practice and exchange familiar banter during the games (though French, rather than Spanish, is the most popular language next to English).

For the Canadian women to make good on their goal of winning it all, they’re focused on strong glovework.

“We build this team around defence, so I think it’s key. If we can win that error column, most of the time we’re going to end up winning,” Lachance says. “We’re going to build this team around making sure that our defence can make those fundamentals — catching routine groundballs and fly balls so we can get out of innings and spend more time in the dugout hitting.”

One player charged with solidifying Canada’s defence will be Ashley Stephenson, who plays third base. Along with Kate Psota, Stephenson is one of two players remaining from 2004, when the national team was first established. An aggressive player at the plate and in the field, Stephenson stresses the importance of keeping things simple on defence.

“Emphasis on just making the easy play,” Stephenson says. “Not necessarily having to make a highlight reel play. We will get those every now and then when the opportunity’s there, but just to make the simple play.”

A teacher by day, Stephenson trains year-round, sprinting to build explosiveness and doing yoga to maintain flexibility and prevent injuries. In the decade-plus since she first joined the team, she has seen the quality of play increase as better athletes have trickled into the sport. That athleticism allows many players to move around, shifting between two, three or even four positions. With just 18 spots on the roster, Lachance values versatility from his players.

“Some of them are triple-position players so that gives us options as coaches,” he says. “We like to have those type of players because they give us different opportunities depending on who’s playing and who we’re playing against.”

CANADIAN WOMEN’S PAN AM ROSTER

Melissa Armstrong • Saskatoon, SK • Pitcher

Amanda Asay • Prince George, BC • First Base/Pitcher

Jessica Bérubé • Québec, QC • Pitcher

Niki Boyd • Surrey, BC • Outfield

Claire Eccles • Surrey, BC • Pitcher

Jenna Flannigan • Cornwall, ON • Outfield

Becky Hartley • White Rock, BC • Outfield

Jennifer Gilroy • Mississauga, ON • Catcher

Kelsey Lalor • Red Deer, AB • Outfield

Nicole Luchanski • Edmonton, AB • Second Base

Ella Matteucci • Fruitvale, BC • Outfield

Autumn Mills • Burlington, ON • Pitcher

Heidi Northcott • Rocky Mountain House, AB • Pitcher

Kate Psota • Burlington, ON • First Base

Stéphanie Savoie • Drummondville, QC • Catcher

Ashley Stephenson • Mississauga, ON • Third Base

Vanessa Riopel • Repentigny, QC • Pitcher

Bradi Wall • Swift Current, SK • Shortstop

Now that the roster’s been assembled, the women get a brief pause before the games in which they return to their everyday lives as teachers, police officers and students. And when the action starts in July, they have every intention of taking advantage of a ‘huge’ opportunity.

“We want to win a gold medal. Sometimes you say ‘make sure there’s no poster board material’ (but) nobody’s coming here to finish fifth, fourth, third. We want to win,” Stephenson says. “At the end of it we want to be standing there with a gold medal around our neck. That is absolutely our goal.”