WHITEHORSE, YUKON, CANADA --The USA Softball Women’s National Team arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Tuesday to begin their quest for the 2012 International Softball Federation (ISF) XII World Fastpitch Championship Gold the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today. The United States is slated to begin pool play Friday, July 13 against Venezuela at noon (PST).
“We’ve had a couple weeks of good competition leading up to this,” said USA infielder Stacy May-Johnson. “We’ve had an opportunity to get acclimated to the weather here in Canada playing in the Canadian Open last week and after a couple of practice days on the field we’ll be ready to go.”
Following their opening game with Venezuela, the USA is scheduled to play six other pool-play games: Czech Republic on July 14, Puerto Rico on July 15, South Africa on July 16, China on July 17, Netherlands on July 18 and Dominican Republic on July 19. The playoffs are scheduled to begin on July 20 with finals on July 22.
Click here for coverage throughout the ISF XII World Fastpitch Championship
In the 2010 ISF World Championship, the USA defeated Japan 7-0 in the finals to win their ninth World Championship title and seventh in a row. This season, Team USA is coming off of a first-place finish in the 2012 World Cup of Softball and a second-place finish in last week’s Canadian Open.
Click here for USA short stop Molly Johnson’s 2012 blog
Athletes competing for USA Softball in Whitehorse: Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif./California 2012); Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich./Michigan 2012); Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda Calif./Arizona State 2009); Samantha Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif./Loyola Marymount 2012); Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md./Tennessee senior); Ashley Holcombe (Fayetteville, Ga./Alabama 2009); Molly Johnson (Lexington, Ky./Kentucky 2010); Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nev./Iowa 2006); Jenae Leles (Sacramento, Calif./Arizona 2009); Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla./Florida 2012); Christi Orgeron (New Orleans, La./Louisiana-Lafayette 2012); Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif./Oklahoma senior) Jessica Shults (Valencia, Calif./Oklahoma senior); Jordan Taylor (Valencia, Calif./Michigan 2011); Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga./Missouri 2011); Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa/Missouri senior); Jackie Traina (Naples, Fla./Alabama junior).
Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla./ Head Coach of Univ. of South Florida) leads the way in his second year as the head coach and is joined by assistant coaches Laura Berg (Santa Fe Springs, Calif./Assistant Coach at Oregon State), Karen Weekly (Edmonds, Wash./Co-Head Coach at Univ. of Tennessee) and Mike White (Eugene, Ore./Head Coach at the University of Oregon).
The ISF also plans to stream the entire World Championship tournament online. The link for the streaming as well as live stats will be available via http://www.usasoftball.com/ throughout the tournament. Click on the events page for ISF World Championship and then proceed to the schedule tab.
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 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA Softball
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 including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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