Jenna Caira

Eujenna "Jenna" Afrodite Caira (born April 1, 1989) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional softball pitcher for the Canadian Wild of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). Caira was a starting pitcher for the Syracuse Orange from 2009–12 and holds the career records in wins, shutouts and innings pitched. Additionally, she is the Big East Conference career leader in strikeouts. She has been a member of the Canada women's national softball team since June 2009 and helped them win a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early life Caira was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, just north of Toronto, growing up in Gormley, just outside of Richmond Hill. She began playing softball at age four, inspired by watching her older sister, Danielle. Her inspiration for becoming a pitcher came from watching her other older sister, Nadia. While in high school, she lived for two years in Switzerland. She is the only player to record 1,000 strikeouts in the Big East Conference, finishing with 1,051 total. She is the all-time leader in many categories for Syracuse softball in many categories including games played, wins, strikeouts, games started, complete games, shutouts, lowest ERA and lowest opponent's batting average. She served as team captain in both 2011 and 2012. During her senior season, she threw a no-hitter against Rutgers. and picked up six weekly Big East Conference honours. She was also named an All-American in her senior year. She returned to Syracuse in 2013 and 2014 and served as an assistant coach and pitching coach.

On April 29, 2023, Syracuse retired her #29 jersey. She is the first Syracuse softball player to have their number retired.

National team Caira has played with the Canada national team since 2009. She has won five medals competing for Canada - one Gold and two Silver at the Pan American Games and two bronze medals at the World Championships. In 2013, she was named team captain. She retired from the National Team following the 2015 gold medal performance at the Pan-Am Games, but eventually returned to compete with the national team, a year and a half later. She made her Olympic debut on June 21, 2021 for Team Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games against Mexico. Caira won a bronze medal with the Canadian team at those Olympics, which was Canada's first ever in the sport, after defeating Mexico in the bronze-medal match, in which she pitched innings. Over the course of the Olympics, she finished with a 1–1 record, pitching innings, with a 1.24 ERA. She guest starred on an episode of Canadian sitcom Mr. D, as herself, in 2015. She is sponsored by Rawlings Canada. She pitches at around 65 miles-per-hour and her signature pitch is the change-up.

Career statistics

NCAA YEAR W L GP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP 2009 16 11 34 27 16 6 1 186.1 148 84 62 83 192 2.33 1.24 2010 19 11 36 31 21 2 0 185.0 143 86 61 79 251 2.31 1.20 2011 35 11 53 45 25 10 3 283.1 193 94 61 96 321 1.51 1.02 2012 27 9 44 38 20 10 2 232.1 129 72 54 98 277 1.63 0.98 TOTALS 97 42 167 141 82 28 6 887.0 613 336 238 356 1041 1.88 1.09