The Finnish Baseball and Softball Federation announced today the coaching staff for the Women’s National Softball Team, in the beginning of their ambitious quest towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. U.S. coaches Michelle Gromacki, Connie Clark and Kirk Walker will lead the Finnish squad, joined by local coaches Pasi Niemelä, Juha Antikainen and Bailey Chalmers-Vuorensyrjä. The General Manager will be Jukka Marttala.
Gromacki, Clark and Walker will share the head coaches’ responsibilities. Coach Gromacki will lead the team at its first tryout camp, taking place from February 26-27 at Seinäjoki, Finland.
The project will commence with a group of inexperienced softball players, more familiar with the Finnish game called Pesäpallo, which was developed from baseball 100 years ago. According to the National Federation release, the coaching staff still believe that the team has a good chance to compete at the highest level of international softball.
Gromacki, Clark and Walker have plenty of coaching experience in college and international softball. Gromacki was USA’s team leader at the 2018 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship in Chiba. Japan while Clark was the Netherlands head coach during the 2019 season, leading the team to second place in the European Championship and third place at the WBSC Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier. Gromacki was her assistant coach.
During the summer of 2017, Walker was an assistant coach on the USA Softball Junior Women's National Team that claimed their second consecutive WBSC Junior Women’s World Championship in Clearwater, Florida, USA.
Finland will participate in the Women’s European Championship, to be held in Sant Boi, Spain, at the end of July.
