FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 6, 2018

 

Thirty-four athletes selected to USA Softball Women’s National Teams

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — The road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games continues as USA Softball announced today the rosters for the 2018 Women’s National Teams.  Seventeen athletes have been named to a World Championship roster, which is slated to compete at the World Cup of Softball and the 2018 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women's World Championship, August 2-12 in Chiba, Japan, while an additional 17 athletes will represent the United States at the Japan All-Star Series and compete as a second National Team at the World Cup of Softball.

 

“This was a very good week of softball in some adverse weather conditions,” said Head Coach Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla./head coach South Florida).  “To that point, I am pleased with the Selection Committee’s choices in determining the 34 players that will represent the United States on the softball field this summer.”

 

Click here to see the athletes selected to the 2018 USA Softball Women’s National Teams

 

In addition to naming two rosters for the 2018 Women’s National Teams, USA Softball is also proud to announce the selection of four-time Olympian Laura Berg (Corvallis, Ore./head coach at Oregon State) and Patty Gasso (Norman, Okla./head coach at Oklahoma) as Head Coaches for two 2018 international competitions.  Joining Ken Eriksen, who was recently named as the Head Coach for the WBSC Women’s World Championship, Berg will lead the U.S. at the Japan All-Star Series while Gasso will spearhead the second Women’s National Team at the World Cup of Softball XIII.

 

During the selection process, athletes participated in position drills as well as simulated games and were evaluated by the USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC). 

 

The 2018 USA Softball World Championship roster will look to defend their Gold Medal finish at the 2016 WBSC Women’s World Championship while also qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. At the 2016 WBSC World Championship, the team claimed the 10th overall World Championship title for the WNT program and finished with a .436 team batting average, 19 home runs, 80 RBI and outscored opponents 83-10.  The pitching staff was lights out, allowing just eight earned runs for a 1.19 ERA. 

 

Highlighting the Women’s World Championship Roster:

- An Olympic Silver Medalist

- 10 veterans from the 2016 World Championship roster

- Four Team USA rookies

 

Highlighting the Japan All-Star Series Roster and second World Cup of Softball Roster:

- An Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist

- Five World Champions and six Junior World Champions

- Three athletes from the 2017 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team

- Five Team USA rookies

 

A full list of National Team events, including exhibition games, will be released at a later date.  Follow along all summer with all of the USA Softball National Teams at USASoftball.com.

 

About USA Softball
USA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million.  USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch.  USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships.  The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game. 

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.

 

About the World Baseball Softball Confederation 

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland -- the Olympic Capital -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. WBSC has 202 National Federation and Associate Members in 143 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually. 

 

The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Softball World Championships (Men, Women, U-19 Men, and U-19 Women), Premier12, World Baseball Classic, and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women's).

 

For more information, visit: www.wbsc.org.

 

 

Codi Warren I Managing Director of Communications

USA Softball

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