photo courtesy of Ed Davis

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Former University of Delaware softball player Melissa Basilio was named an assistant coach with the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team for the summer of 2009.

Basilio will assist the Canadian National Team that will compete at the Canada Cup from July 4-12 in Surrey, British Columbia, the United States World Cup from July 16-20 in Oklahoma City, O.K., and the Pan American Championship.

Basilio, a native of Pickering, Ontario, was a four-year starter at third base for the Blue Hens from 2000 through 2003. She currently ranks ninth in Blue Hen history with 178 career games played and 21st with 115 career hits. Basilio was a second team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection in 2002 after batting .297 with 33 hits, and was again a second team all-conference pick in 2003 when she batted .258 with 31 hits. She is still Delaware’s all-time leader with 497 career assists, and had a UD single game record 10 assists against George Mason on May 11, 2002.

A two-year captain as a Blue Hen, Basilio earned the 2003 University of Delaware Student Services for Athletes Outstanding Contributor Award. She also spent a year as the Vice President of the UD Student Athletic Advisory Council in 2001-02 and a year as the President of the S.A.A.C. in 2002-03. A Dean’s List student, Basilio graduated from Delaware in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology and a minor in Biology.

Following graduation Basilio served as an assistant coach with the Markham Tigers in Markham, Ontario. She was also an assistant high school coach at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Pickering. She is currently in her fourth season as assistant softball coach at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C.

Basilio was an assistant coach with the 2007 Canadian Junior Women’s National Team that participated in the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico in 2006 and the ISF VIII Junior Women’s World Championships in Enschede, Netherlands in 2007.