FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2004

GREEK OLYMPIC TEAM PACKS ITS BAGS SOON
FOR DETOURED ROAD TO ATHENS
Locales on USA’s East Coast and in Amsterdam
& Prague Can Preview Games Competitor

Wherever the athletes on the Greek Olympic softball team are today, they should savor it while they can. Four weeks from today the 18 women that will represent the host country in the softball competition at the Summer Games will fly to New York to begin the final string of competitions leading up to Athens in August.

“I am very excited about the final preparation days for the Greek team,” said Head Coach Linda Wells. “My goal is to allow the players to sharpen their team play with an exhibition series that will also expose the team to the Greek, softball, and general communities in these parts of the U.S. and Europe.”

The team’s schedule over the four-plus weeks of the trip – which will culminate with their heading to Athens to move into the Olympic Village on August 6 – will be as follows:

EVENT	LOCATION	DATES
Games at Staten Island	New York	July 10
Games vs. ASA of PA “All-Stars”	State College, Pennsylvania	July 12
Games vs. Brakettes	Stratford, Connecticut	July 14
Games vs. ASA of PA “All-Stars”	York, Pennsylvania	July 16
Games at U. of Maryland vs. Metro Washington, DC ASA “Dream Team”	College Park, Maryland	July 18
Games vs. ASA of PA Allentown Patriots & Topton VIPs	Allentown, Pennsylvania	July 19
Games	Amsterdam	July 22-25
Games	Freising, Germany	July 27-28
Games vs. Czech Team	Prague, Czech Republic	August 2-4
NOTE: Doubleheaders will be played on all of the above dates except the three in Prague.

Wells said that she will be looking to solidify the team’s play sets and “to work to take advantage of the pitching, defensive, and offensive strengths of the players in the team environment.” She also indicated that she will be looking at final roster combinations and batting orders. The team roster is being finalized for the Olympics, with 15 of the 18 required to be named as those who will compete in the eight-nation event. The other three players will remain with the team as alternates. The group is as follows:

NAME	SCHOOL	CURRENTLY RESIDES
Jessica Bashor	University of Iowa	Riverside, California
Lindsey Bashor	University of Iowa	Riverside, California
Joanna Bouziou	Athens University	Athens, Greece
Vanessa Czarnecki	Fresno State University	Fresno, California
Christa Dalakis	George Mason University	Falls Church, Virginia
Jamie Farnworth	Cal State Long Beach	Upland, California
Sarah Farnworth	Cal State Northridge	Upland, California
Stacey Farnworth	Arizona State University	Phoenix, Arizona
Joanna Gail	Poway High School	Poway, California
Ginny Georgantäs	University of South Florida	Tampa, Florida
Jeana Gevas	Cal Poly State	Vallejo, California
Pauline Glenn	UNLV	Tucson, Arizona
Lindsay James	U. of California-Berkeley	Berkeley, California
Kristen Karanzias	Iowa State University	Yorba Linda, California
Chloe Kloezeman	Notre Dame H.S. Belmont	Milbrae, California
Katerina Koutougkou	College of Sports Science	Athens, Greece
Tina Kramos	Southwest Missouri State U.	Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
Stephanie Skegas-Maxwell	University of Nebraska	Torrance, California

 

The International Softball Federation is the world governing body of the sport as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). Softball (women's fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 124 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.

For more information, please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com or (813) 864-0100, ext. 229.