FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29th, 2010

ISF XII Women's World Softball Championship Schedule Announced

(Ottawa, ON) - The International Softball Federation (ISF) has officially released the schedule for the ISF XII Women's World Softball Championships. The event will take place in Caracas, Venezuela from June 23rd to July 2nd, 2010.

Sixteen (16) countries will be represented at the event, including the 2008 Olympic Gold medalists from Japan and six-time defending World Champions from the United States. Other competing countries include Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and Venezuela. Each team will feature the very best female softball players from their respective countries.

Canada will head into the world tournament as a medal threat, having narrowly missed the podium at the 2008 Olympic Games with a 5-3 loss to Australia to finish in 4th. However, the Canadian team had the youngest average age in Beijing, and that added experience should carry the team a long way at this year's world championship.

'The 2009 season was a good building block for our core players' stated Canadian Senior Women's National Team Head Coach Mark Smith. 'We can compete with anyone in the world and we expect to be playing on the final day of the world championships.'

The sixteen-team field will be divided into two pools of eight that will play within their division in round robin play, which will be played from June 23rd to 29th, 2010. The top four countries of each division will advance to the playoff round on June 30th and July 1st followed by the Bronze and Gold Medal games on July 2nd.

Canada will play its opening game against Cuba on June 24th (7:30pm, EDT).

Canada's Schedule (All game times are Eastern Daylight Time)

June 24th: Canada vs. Cuba (7:30pm) - Field I
June 25th: Canada vs. Chinese Taipei (11:30am) - Field II
June 25th: Canada vs. Argentina (7:30pm) - Field I
June 26th: Canada vs. Great Britain (3:30pm) - Field I
June 27th: Canada vs. Japan (3:30pm) - Field II
June 28th: South Africa vs. Canada (5:30pm) - Field I
June 29th: Canada vs. Netherlands (7:30pm) - Field II

June 30th and July 1st: Playoff Round
July 2nd: Bronze Medal Game and Gold Medal Game

The entire schedule can be seen here: http://www.isfsoftball.org/english/communication/XII%20WWC%20Final%20SCHEDULE.pdf

The official tournament website will be launched shortly.

 


For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications Services
Softball Canada
gleblanc@softball.ca
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105