The PFP Team
Who We Are
Denise Davis
Founder & Master Instructor
Denise Davis is the founder and owner of Planet Fastpitch, LLC. Located in Uxbridge Massachusetts, Planet Fastpitch trains over 1000 players and coaches each year in a 30,000 square foot performance center that now includes an indoor softball field complete with infield clay. Committed to personalized attention, Planet Fastpitch has created a strong and positive culture in New England while offering innovative instruction in all softball skills in a supportive environment. Denise graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Management and from The University of Rhode Island with a Master of Business Administration degree. Her softball career at Rutgers earned Atlantic 10 All-Conference, Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference and All-Northeast Region Honors, winning an Atlantic 10 Championship and a berth to NCAA Tournament. She was also a First Team All-American in Women’s Majors Fastpitch playing for the Topton VIPs. Denise served as an assistant coach at URI for 6 years and as a consultant for Boston University, UMass, Bryant University and United States Coast Guard Academy before devoting full time to research and training. She is currently a pitching coach for a roster of collegiate pitchers and has privately coached several professional and Olympic pitchers. Davis won the Small Business Association (SBA) for the 2007 Person of the Year, is a tenured speaker at the World Softball Coaches Convention, is FMS, OnBaseU, K-Baseball and K-Motion Certified and a softball research partner with Massachusetts General Hospital Orthopaedics Sports Performance Center and Figur8 Inc.
Brandice Balschmiter
Master Instructor
Brandice Balschmiter is a 2010 graduate of the University of Massachusetts earning a B.A. in Studio Arts. Brandice was a four-year starter for UMass from 2006-09 where she compiled a 126-33 record with a 0.99 earned run average. She ended her career with 1,218 strikeouts, which, at the time, ranked 21st in NCAA Division I history. Additionally, her 126 victories are currently ranked 10th nationally, her 137 complete games are tied for 11th and her 68 shutouts are tied for 14th. While at UMass she recorded 3 perfect games and compiled 10 no-hitters. The native of Newark, N.Y. was named the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and Tournament Most Outstanding Player a record 4 years in a row, in addition to being named A-10 Pitcher of the Week a record 28 times. Brandice was the fifth overall pick in the 2009 National Pro Fastpitch Draft by the Chicago Bandits where she helped the team to the regular-season crown. She was a member of the 2009 Pan American Qualifier Gold Medal squad and an alternate for the 2010 U.S. National Team. Brandice returned to UMass in the fall of 2012 as an Assistant Coach. Prior to 2012 Brandice spent three years at Planet Fastpitch where she was an instructor.
Kerri Jacklets
Master Instructor
Kerri Jacklets comes to PFP after serving as the Head Coach for the Providence College Friars for 13 years. While at Providence, Jacklets coached 22 All-Conference players (Big East), 5 All-Region (Great Lakes), 1 All-American nominee and had multiple Player-of- the -Year nominations. In 2017, one of the strongest offensive years, Jacklets recruited a player on the top 50 watchlist. Since 2010, 123 of Jacklets’ student-athletes earned a spot on the All-Big East Academic team along with 10 straight years of the program earning at 3.0 GPA or higher in each semester. In addition, 14 Chi Alpha Sigma recipients (3.5+gpa) and 2 Student-Athletes of the Year for Providence College, Jacklets established a competitive program designed to help ready players for beyond the college playing experience. In 2017 most major offensive records were broken at PC and in 2018 Providence established itself as one of the top defenses in the Big East (.971 Fielding %) and top 3 in pitching ERA. During her tenure at PC, Jacklets served as President of the Big East for 2 years as well as being the conference representative for the Division I Head Coaches committee. Over the past 11 years, Jacklets has owned and operated Jacklets Softball School, LLC that focused on player development and exposure in the softball community. Before Providence, Kerri was the 1stAssistant at Brown University where they last won an Ivy League Championship in 2004 while coaching both a Player and Pitcher of the Year in the conference. As a graduate of Providence College and All- Northeast region catcher, Jacklets earned a BA in Arts in 2001. Team captain in her last 2 years and a Big East Academic All-American in 3 consecutive years, Coach is bringing a wealth of knowledge in team design and individual skill development while maintaining clear vision on creating the total student-athlete.
Mary Holt-Kelsch
Veteran Instructor
Mary Holt-Kelsch returns to Planet Fastpitch after serving as the Associate Head Coach at The University of Rhode Island, where she was directly responsible for player development and recruiting. During her six seasons on staff at URI, Holt-Kelsch helped rebuild the program especially on the offensive side of the game, with 2019 serving as the breakout season. The team set multiple offensive program records and top five performances over the past three seasons in batting average, on base percentage, home runs, and slugging percentage. Holt-Kelsch coached two Atlantic 10 All-Conference selections, five All-Rookie picks, and two Academic All-Conference honorees. Her players also earned 12 weekly conference honors.
Prior to Rhode Island, Holt-Kelsch, spent two seasons as the Assistant Coach at Lafayette College. Her success led her to being promoted to the top assistant on Jexx Varner’s staff. In addition to helping the team improve its overall fielding percentage, Holt also monitored and mentored the student-athletes, helping Lafayette achieve the highest GPA in program history during the 2015 season. She also served as the Head Coach of the New England Phoenix Gold from 2010-2013 where she successfully sent players to fulfill their dreams of playing at the Collegiate Level.
Holt-Kelsch is a 2013 graduate from Kent State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. A three-year starter in the infield, a 2009 MAC East Division Champion, and a 2010 MAC Regular Season Champion Holt-Kelsch earned multiple weekly conference awards, 2009 NFCA Academic All American honors, and collected multiple Mid-American Conference All-Academic Team Honors. Mary is a PFP Varsity School Alum and is excited to get back to work with the PFP athletes utilizing hitting development technology like HitTrax and Blast Motion. You will also see her out on the dirt working to develop position players here at PFP.
Shannon Smith
Veteran Instructor
Shannon Smith is a 2018 graduate of the University of Kentucky, earning both a B.S. in Kinesiology and a B.B.A. in Business Management. A four time member of the SEC Academic Honor Role, Shannon exclusively pitched for the Wildcats. During her time, Shannon finished second (at time of graduation) in Kentucky history in opponent batting average, with an opponent batting average of .202. She also finished top 10 in both strikeouts (207) and in ERA (2.75). After her four year playing career, Shannon stayed on to aid in coaching the Wildcats for one season, primarily managing bullpen workouts for the pitching staff. A Milford, MA native, Shannon completed her high school career for the Hawks with a record of 63-3, and two state championships. She is a three time winner of the Gatorade Player of the Year award for Massachusetts. Shannon is an alum of the Varsity School and began coaching at PFP as a Junior instructor while in high school.
Kate Condon
Veteran Instructor
Kate is attending the University of Florida pursuing her Masters in Sport Management with a concentration in High Performance Coaching. Kate graduated from UMASS Dartmouth in 2022, receiving her B.S in Marketing, with a minor in Management, where she played softball for her four years. Kate has been coaching tournament softball since 2018 from ages 8 – 18. In 2021, Kate was invited to be the assistant coach at the 12u All American Tournament in Oklahoma City for the Northeast region as the youngest coach to be ever invited in the country.
Kate has been with PFP for many years as a Varsity School Alum and summer intern. Kate brings a positive, energetic atmosphere and enjoys working with all athletes to grow the great game of softball.
Megan Colleran
Veteran Instructor
Megan is a 2018 graduate of UMass Amherst where she was a four-year starter and a captain of the Minutewomen her senior year. Native to North Attleboro, Meg was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Massachusetts in 2014. A longtime member of Planet Fastpitch, Meg was a part of Varsity School for 5 years and has been a part of PFP since she was 11. Planet Fastpitch holds some of the best memories for her and she is beyond excited to be on the coaching side after being on the player side for so long. Meg knew she always wanted to have softball in her life and she couldn’t think of a better place to carry on her love of the game than teaching at PFP.
Renee Poirier
Veteran Instructor
Renee is a 2019 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where she earned her Bachelor in Science and Law. As a freshman, Renee earned the most Saves in NCAA Division 1 and broke the record for the most single-season saves in Army and Patriot League history. She was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Renee was named team captain in 2018 and 2019 for both her junior and senior seasons at the Academy. After graduating, Renee was asked to stay at West Point to be the Athletic Intern/ Director of Operations for the Army Women's Basketball team for the 2020 season. After completion of the role, Renee attended the Engineer Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri before moving forward to her first assignment at Fort Bliss, Texas. Immediately upon arrival at Fort Bliss in 2020, Renee deployed to Kuwait. In November of 2022, Renee will have completed her service time in the Army. She is grateful for all she learned while in service but is extremely excited to pursue her passion for sports and the mentorship of young athletes.
Renee is a native of Plainville, MA where she graduated from King Philip High School. She is a PFP Varsity School Alum and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Sports Industry Management from Georgetown University.
Logan MacDonald
Veteran Instructor
Logan is a 2022 graduate of Babson College earning a B.S. in business administration with concentrations in finance and business analytics. A native of Wilmington, MA, Logan attended Austin Prep for high school. She was a pitcher on the Varsity team for 5 years, where she was named 3x MA All-Scholastic player of the year and was a CCL MVP and 2x state finalist for the Cougars. Logan went on to pitch for Babson College, achieving NFCA All-America Academic honors her senior year and finishing the year with the best team record in school history (34-6). Logan is a Varsity School Alum and has been taking lessons at PFP since she was 12. She is excited to stay involved in the game and carry on her passion for softball with PFP.
Ellen McDonnell
Veteran Instructor
*Ellen is currently away at Law School this fall but we will see her again when she is home on breaks! We miss her!
Ellen is a 2019 graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, PA earning a degree in government and law with a minor in Spanish. A native of Warwick, RI, she earned All-State honors in her time at Pilgrim High School. At Lafayette, Ellen played four years as an outfielder/utility player and served as captain her senior year. Though spending most of her time in the outfield in college, she trained in both pitching and catching Varsity School Programs at Planet Fastpitch. A longtime member of the Planet Fastpitch family, Ellen was a member of the Varsity School for 5 years, serving as a junior instructor in high school and throughout college. As an instructor at Planet Fastpitch, she has worked to grow the Rookie School program, and coached at various camps including the Elaine Sortino Softball School. Ellen hopes to share her excitement and passion for the game with the next generation.
