FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 5, 2015
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Seventeen athletes named to 2015 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team
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IRVINE, Calif. --- Following a two-day selection process,17 athletes and three alternates have been selected to represent the United States as a member of the 2015 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team (JWNT) the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today. Selected by members of the Women's National Team Selection Committee, these athletes are slated to participate in the International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Women's World Championship in August in Oklahoma City, Okla. and the World Cup of Softball X in Southern California in July.Â
"We have a good mix of speed and power and I'm very excited to see what we can do defensively," said Head Coach Tairia Flowers (Tucson, Ariz./Head Coach Cal State Northridge). "Overall, we have a good group of girls and will head into the summer with some experience with athletes having a full college season under their belt. We've also got a few young ones who will just be finishing up their high school careers. The staff and I are looking forward to the summer and we know that these girls will be ready to go when we head to Oklahoma City for the ISF World Championships."
Click here to see the athletes selected to the 2015 USA Softball Junior Women's National Team
In all, 11 NCAA Division I universities are represented while six athletes will be finishing up their senior year of high school prior to the 2015 season. Also joining the roster are four athletes who participated at the USA Softball Junior Women's Open Tryout on January 2.Â
With Tairia Flowers at the head of the Junior Women’s program, Trisha Ford (Fremont, Calif./head coach at Fresno State), Kristie Fox (San Diego, Calif./head coach at UT- Arlington) and Tim Walton (Cerritos, Calif./head coach at University of Florida) will serve as Assistant Coaches throughout the summer. This marks the first stint with the National Team Program for Fox and Walton, while Ford returns for her second season with the JWNT.
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Team USA is looking to reclaim the Gold Medal at the ISF Junior Women's World Championship (JWWC) after falling 4-0 to Japan at the 2013 JWWC in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Slated for August 9-15 at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, the best 19-Under teams in the world will take to the softball capital of the world to compete for the World Championship.Â
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Tickets to attend the 2015 ISF Junior Women's World Championships in Oklahoma City will go on sale on January 15 at Softballoutlet.com.
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For more information about the Junior Women’s World Championship and the JWNT, visit the tournament website or USASoftball.com.
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About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA SoftballÂ
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles as well as claimed seven World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com. Â
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About ISF
Headquartered in Plant City, Florida (USA), the ISF is a member of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for the sport  which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and SportAccord (formerly the General Association of International Sports Federations). Softball (women’s fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 127 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.
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Codi Warren
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Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications
Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball
Office 405.425.3431 | Cell 405. 420. 2817
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