Meet the team

Emily is the Backstop's founder and fearless leader! She aims to develop confidence and grit in her lessons and players (feel bad A$$, play bad A$$) in hopes of elevating the game of Softball in New England. Emily has played softball her whole life and finished her collegiate career in 2013 earning RIC Softballs MVP award. Not only was she a pitcher in college, but she also was a leader in the Anchorwomen's lineup making the Little East Conference team as a DH her freshman year. Since college, Emily has been coaching travel softball for the Waves for a decade. In addition to travel ball, she has coached high school teams in both assistance coach and pitching coach roles. Emily has given private hitting and pitching lessons spanning over a decade and has seen the sport continue to grow over the years. She brings innovative drills and techniques to her lessons that allow players at any level to achieve success. Her focus is on players grasping the concepts and truly understanding the "how" and "why" of player movements. Her degree in Elementary Education allows her to differentiate lessons and cater each lesson to that specific player.

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Favorite color: Yellow 

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Favorite food: Mexican (tacos are amazing!) and Seafood 

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Favorite Quote: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." — Eleanor Roosevelt.

Crista was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She played 4 years of high school varsity softball and her team won a NY State championship title her sophomore year. She played her entire travel ball career with Team Long Island, an elite organization.

She went on to compete with the Providence College Friars from 2017-2021 earning a dual Bachelor’s degree in Elementary & Special Education and her Master’s degree in Higher Education. In her 5 years at PC, she slated a .924 fielding percentage and led the Big East conference in hit by pitches (lol don’t move). She was also on the leaderboards for her fielding percentage, total put outs, and sacrifice flies. She earned the role of captain her senior/graduate years as well as being awarded Providence College’s Helen Bert award her senior year for her hard work on and off the field.

Crista is one of Backstop’s longest tenured instructors and has a love for growing the game of softball. She hopes to instill her passion for the sport into every player she works with. Make sure to ask about her cat Captain (named after Derek Jeter, of course) or to see a picture of him if she hasn’t shown you already! 😉

And as always, Go Friars! 🖤🤍

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Favorite Color: Blue 

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Favorite Food: Pizza

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Favorite Quote: “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” – Derek Jeter

Yesenia is originally from Bethel, Ct. She holds her high school strikeout records; during her time at Bethel, she was an All-State athlete (2 years), All-Conference, All-Conference, All-Division athlete. Yesenia also pitched for the USA team in Spain, pitching the Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona teams. In the year 2022, she will be inducted into the Bethel High School Hall of fame. 

She went on to be a scholarship athlete at Southern Connecticut State University. She accomplished a lot being a pitcher with many strikeouts. Yesenia was also Connecticut Army National Guard/Southern Connecticut State University Athletes of the Week. 

After college Yesenia went on to be a private pitching instructor for over 30 young athletes in CT, and has experience in both High School and Travel ball coaching!

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Coach Sen has been apart of the Backstop team for years and brings a ton of energy and PINK to the facility!

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Favorite color: Pink 

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Favorite food: Sushi

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Favorite Quote: "The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit, but the greatest of these is spirit."-Ken Doherty​

Callie begun playing softball at the age of 8, where she played on various travel teams including the Waves. Continuing into high school, she started at catcher on a two-time state champion North Kingstown High School softball team; taking home the title in both 2016 and 2017. Callie would go on to play 3 years of collegiate softball at Rhode Island College. Graduating in 2023, she would earn a degree in Media Communications, with a minor in Professional Writing. Callie continues to stay involved in the sport she is passionate about by coaching the EWG Waves 10u travel team.

We are extremely excited to be adding Coach Callie to the Backstop team in a more full-time roll. She brings her passion for the game to all the lessons, camps, and clinics that she's apart of! .....She also brings the JIBBITZ
 

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Favorite color: Yellow 

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Favorite food: Chicken Nuggets

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Favorite Quote: “Anything is possible” -Kevin Garnett 

Playing since the age of 6, Katie is deeply rooted in RI softball. As
a four year varsity player at Tollgate High School, she was an
all-tournament freshman, and earned all-state honors as a sophomore
outfielder and junior infielder. Recording a .548 batting average her
junior season led her to win the RI Batting Championship. Katie was
both a right-handed power hitter and a fast left-side slapper played
travel ball in RI and CT.

Following freshman year at the University of New Haven, Katie
transferred to her dream landing spot at the University of Tampa. As a
senior pursuing her masters degree, Katie led the Spartans with a 7
game-hitting streak, a .299 batting average, and a perfect fielding
season on 38 putouts. She was awarded Second Team All-Sunshine State
Conference honors, CoSIDA Academic All-District, and D2ADA Academic
Achievement Award. This led to her nomination to Team USA, Athletes
International where she was able to live out her dream of
International play in Sydney, Australia.

Before returning to RI, Katie completed her master’s degree while
joining the coaching staff of Tampa Catholic High School. She brings a
love of competitiveness and a desire to share her experiences to those
around her. Being diverse in both batting and fielding has been an
element that she enjoys sharing and challenging players to achieve.

Favorite color: Green

Favorite food: Anything with cheese

Favorite Quote: "Keep going, keep believing, never give up."

Bella is a Rhode Island native, born in raised in Westerly. She begun her softball journey at the age of 4. Throughout the years, she has played multiple competitive travel teams and was a Varsity starter all 4 years at Westerly High School.  Bella went on to play her first two collegiate years at the Community College of Rhode Island as the starting shortstop. Here, she was a part of the 2016 NJCAA XXI Regional Championship team and one of seven players to make All-Region XXI honors in 2017. She then transferred to Roger Williams University, where she played her final two years of collegiate softball as the starting second baseman and was the only player to start all 41 games of her final season in 2019. Since the end of her colligate career, she has been pursuing the coaching side of the game for travel and school ball. She has previously coached for the RI/CT Stealth organization, Westerly Middle School, and Westerly High School. Now, she is currently a coaching for the Rhody WaveRunners organization and The Prout School. 

Bella is passionate about growing the softball community and assisting players to tap into their higher level athleticism by increasing their mentality, physicality, and love for the game. 

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Pasta

Favorite Quote: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” - Eric Thomas 

First picking up the game of softball at age 10, Katelyn earned All-State honors and was an Honorable Mention to the All-ECC Team while at Waterford High School. Following this, she played 4 years at Rhode Island College as she studied Elementary Education. As a long time short stop, Katelyn earned a starting position on the RIC Team her freshman year. Working hard throughout her four years, she was able to put herself on the leader board for putouts at RIC. Katelyn was also name First Team All-Little East during her tenure there.

Currently, Katelyn is a kindergarten teacher in RI. She loves to continue to teach the game of softball by giving lessons as well as play in some slow pitch leagues!

Favorite color: Purple 

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Favorite food: French Fries

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Favorite Quote: “Strive for greatness, not perfection."

Alexis grew up in Wolcott, CT where she started varsity all 4 years of her high school career both behind the plate and at third base. During this time, she earned All-State, All-Conference, All-Academic, as well as team MVP recognition for her performance. 

Alexis chose to continue her education and softball career at Rhode Island College. While pursuing a B.S. in Chemistry, Alexis landed a position for the Anchorwomen as the starting catcher for her 4 years. In her senior year at RIC, she could be found on the Little East Conference leaders board for multiple offensive categories, including home runs, slugging percentage, OPS and more. Her offensive statistics and defensive performance earned her Second Team All-Little East Conference in 2023. 

Alexis aims to help the next generation of softball players advance both their physical and mental game, allowing for them to grow into well-rounded, successful players. 

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Favorite color: Green

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Favorite food: Nachos

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Favorite Quote: "Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up"

-Robert Schuller​

Abby grew up in Granby, Connecticut. Where she played 4 years of varsity softball as a pitcher. She earned All-State, All-conference, All-Academic and MVP honors. 

Abby is now in her senior year at RIC majoring in health sciences. Abby started as a pitcher as a freshman and earned All-Conference Rookie of the year. Sophomore year and Junior year she earned All-Conference and First team All-Region as well as the team MVP both years. Last season she ended with 222 strikeouts and a 1.5 ERA. Abby also earned little east conference pitcher of the week 7 times from her freshman to junior year. 

Currently she’s going into her senior year pitching for RIC as a captain. She has done private pitching lessons in CT for years and loves to focus on drills that help pitchers to spin the ball more. 

Favorite color: Pink 

Favorite food: Ice cream 

Favorite quote: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take- Wayne Gretzky” -Micheal Scott 

Zeena keeps The Backstop running. She may not always be in the forefront (hiding out in the office) but she is an extremely intricate part of Backstop's success. Not only is she a technology wizard, but she also has a ton of softball experience having coached 10+ years and also playing collegiately for Salve Regina. Anything backstop related Zeena has the answer for you! 

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Favorite color: Purple 

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Favorite food: Chinese

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Favorite Quote: "It's not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters." Paul Bear Bryant​