Great Britain announced the 16 players – eight women and eight men – who have been selected for the team that will compete in the historic, first-ever WBSC Co-ed Slowpitch World Cup, to be played in Guadalajara, Mexico from 5 to 10 December.
“My role has been to put a team together that will offer Great Britain every opportunity to be successful,” said head coach Stephen Patterson. “All the players have contributed within this process and have made it very difficult in many ways for myself and the coaching staff to select a final team.”
The players that have been selected to represent Great Britain in Mexico are:
- Megan Beard
- Josie Cherson
- Macy Cortez
- Kat Golik
- Joe Grantham
- Kris Hadwin
- Kirstie Leach
- Zoe Le Roux
- Chiya Louie
- Mike MacDowell
- Josh Smith
- Dan Spinks
- Matt Tomlin
- Chelsie Robison
- Duncan Waugh
- Chris Yoxall
Alternates will be also chosen and notified should anyone be unable to make the trip.
The coaching staff will consist of head coach Patterson; assistant coach Luis Arrevillagas and team operations manager Kellie Whitaker.
Great Britain, who qualified for the maiden World Cup by winning the 2022 European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship, is due to arrive in Guadalajara on 3 December and will be able to train on the competition field the next day.
The WBSC Coed Slow Pitch Softball World Cup is the third WBSC mixed gender World Cup on the current WBSC events calendar along with the Baseball5 World Cup, which was held successfully held for the first time in Mexico City last year and the maiden Youth Baseball5 World Cup. The U-12 Mixed Softball World Cup, which was staged at the end of last year, has been paused.
Among the particular rules for the WBSC Coed Slow Pitch Softball World Cup is the pitcher and catcher must be of different genders while the four infielder positions must be filled by two males and two females.