FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2003

NEXT MONTH – JR. WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP;
NEXT STEP? NATIONAL AND OLYMPIC SOFTBALL
19-and-Under Tournament Showcases Athletes
Whose Careers Are On Their Way Up

At the conclusion of next month’s International Softball Federation (ISF) VII Jr. Women’s World Championship in Nanjing, China, only one of the 14 participating teams will leave with gold medals. All of the athletes, however, will leave with additional international experience that will build on their careers in preparation for the coming years and working toward reaching the sport’s highest levels. For some of these players, the Jr. Women’s World Championship will be one step closer to playing for their country’s women’s national team, and hopefully going on with that team to the Women’s World Championship (to next be staged by the ISF in 2006) and the Olympics.

The Jr. Women’s World Championship, a 19-and-under fast pitch competition, has been helping build careers of aspiring softball players since it began in 1981.

In 1987, for example, at the III Jr. Women’s World Championship, all eyes were on USA pitcher Michelle Granger, who helped lead her team to their first gold medal at that event. Nine years later she would add a gold medal to her trophy case in another first, playing on the team that won the first-ever Olympic softball competition. Just one year prior to the sport’s Olympic debut in 1996, fans in attendance got a look at some other future Olympians at the V Jr. Women’s World Championship. That event featured, among others, Japan pitcher Juri Takayama, who would make her Olympic debut one year later at the age of just 19, and USA catcher Stacey Nuveman, who would go on to an Olympic appearance in 2000. Even the last Jr. Women’s World Championship – 1999 in Taiwan – had players participating that may not have known it then but are future Olympians now. Look no further than pitcher Lauren Bay, whose team reached the playoffs at that event four years ago, and who now has advanced to getting ready for a higher stakes competition, having helped Canada win the qualifying tournament two months ago that will send them to next year’s Olympic softball competition.

Another notable is New Zealand’s Michelle Kingi. The right-hander will captain her team next month, but at the age of 18 has already played in the Women’s World Championship (summer 2002) and an Olympic qualifier (Asia/Oceania tournament this past March). Amazingly, Kingi also pitched at the 1999 Jr. Women’s World Championship at the age of 14.

Kingi and New Zealand join the host country and the following in making up the 14 teams that will compete from October 12-20: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, and the United States. The event will take place in the brand new stadium at Nanjing University of Technology, and marks the first time that China has hosted a world softball championship.

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