Kaleigh Rafter - Assistant Coach - Softball Coaches

Kaleigh Rafter

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
krafter@fsu.edu

After two seasons as the Seminoles' volunteer assistant coach, Kaleigh Rafter was promoted to assistant coach prior to the 2024 season. Rafter also currently serves as the head coach for the Canadian National Team. Rafter enters her third season as an assistant coach for the Noles in 2026. Rafter primarily works with the Seminoles' catchers and offense.

Rafter helped the Noles stay on top of the college softball world in 2025 as the Seminoles won their 15th ACC Regular Season Championship and finished the season with a 49-12 record. FSU hosted a NCAA Regional for the 11th consecutive season as the No. 5 overall seed. FSU advanced to the NCAA Super Regional where they fell to eventual National Runner-Up Texas Tech. Rafter helpd the Noles to another record-breaking season offensively. In 2025, FSU broke the school record for batting average (.346), had the second most runs in school history (420), third most home runs in school history (83), fourth most runs in school history (452) and fourth most hits in school history (566). FSU finished the season ranked in the top 10 nationally in batting average, hits, RBI per game, RBI, runs per game, sacrifice flies and triples. Rafter was a key influence in the development of catcher Michaela Edenfield who earned All-America honors in 2023 and was selected in the second round of the AUSL Draft to the Volts.

FSU continued their reign as one of the top programs of the country in 2024 as they finished the season with a 46-16 record and reached a NCAA Super Regional for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons. After a tough start to the season where the Seminoles were 18-9 and were coming off losses in four out of its five games to the likes of Alabama, Duke and Texas, FSU went 22-1 in its next 23 games to put themselves in position to host another NCAA Regional. FSU breezed through the Tallahassee Regional as they went 3-0 in a regional for the first time since 2021. FSU's season ended in the Super Regional as they fell to eventual National Champion Oklahoma in Norman. FSU set the school record for batting average in a single season (.332) and scored the second-most runs in the school history (456). FSU finished top 10 nationally in runs per game, batting average, doubles, home runs per game, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and walks. Rafter helped produce some stars on Florida State's offense as Jaysoni Beachum was named the 2024 TUCCI/NFCA Division I Freshman of the Year after having the best freshman season in school history. Beachum was named the ACC Freshman of the Year and joined Michaela Edenfield as FSU's two NFCA All-America honorees.

In 2023, Rafter helped the Seminoles finish top 25 nationally in runs, slugging percentage and on-base percentage while also leading the country in doubles.

Rafter helped the Seminoles to a National Runner-Up finish at the 2023 Women's College World Series and helped FSU to an ACC Regular Season Championship and another ACC Tournament Championship.

Rafter competed with the Canadian Women’s National Team for 15 seasons. She is a two-time Olympian, a four-time Pan American Games medallist (one gold; three silver) and represented Canada in five WBSC World Cups, winning three bronze medals. She also won a gold medal at the 2007 Universiade (World University Games) and played two seasons of professional softball in Japan and one in the National Pro Fastpitch League.

While competing with the Canadian National Team, Rafter had the opportunity to coach at the NCAA level, serving as a student assistant coach and volunteer coach in several stints at Florida State University (2009-2010; 2012-2013; 2015 and currently) and as an assistant coach at the University of New York at Buffalo (2015-2016) and the University of Virginia (2016-2019). Rafter is a Competition – Development Certified coach in the Coaching Association of Canada’s National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP).

Rafter’s collegiate career was split between the University of Detroit (2005-07) and Florida State University (2009) where she transferred after the 2008 Olympics to join Coach Lonni Alameda who had worked with Team Canada for the Games. She set a Detroit single season homerun record in 2007 while earning Horizon League Player of the Year honours. Rafter played professionally in Japan for Team Honda for two seasons.