With the softball tournament at The World Games about to start, let’s examine 10 things you need to know about it.
- USA, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chinese Taipei, Italy and Australia will play in the tournament. These are the eight top-ranked teams in the current WBSC Women’s World Softball Ranking.
- This is the third time softball will be part of The World Games. The first time was in 1981 in Santa Clara, USA, and the second time was in 1985 in London, England.
- The venue for the upcoming softball tournament is Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, which opened on April 16, 1988, with a seating capacity of 10,800.
- The tournament is divided in two groups. Group A with Canada, Chinese Taipei, Italy and United States, and Group B with Australia, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
- Besides the World Game medals, the WBSC World Championship is on the line. USA enters the event as the defending champions after having won the WBSC title in 2018 in Japan.
- It's the second time that USA is hosting The World Games. The US had the honour of hosting the inaugural edition in 1981 in Santa Clara, California.
- Japan has the chance to hold the Olympic gold medal, the World Games gold medal and the World Championship title until at least 2024 if the Japanese National Softball Team wins the tournament.
- In the action-packed tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, 20 games will be played in just 5 days.
- USA Superstar Haylie McCleney will play in a very familiar environment. She was born in Morris, Alabama, less than 30 kilometers from Birmingham and attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, around 100 kilometers from Birmingham.
- United States, Japan and Canada won the medals in the last World Cup and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They look to repeat in this tournament.
