The USA Women's Softball Olympic Team has come together in Lakeland, Florida for a training camp, reuniting for the first time since March when the “Stand Beside Her” tour, presented by Major League Baseball (MLB), was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team is taking part in a series of workouts, practice sessions, and simulated game situations at Barnett Athletic Complex, home of the Florida Southern College softball program, from 4-16 January, 2021.
The 18-player squad will be without Rachel Garcia, Dejah Mulipola and Bubba Nickles, as well as assistant coaches Laura Berg, Howard Dobson, Tairia Flowers and Heather Tarr who all remain with their respective collegiate teams. Joining Head Coach Ken Eriksen to assist with training will be Roman and Penny Foore, Kyla Holas, and two-time Olympian Kelly Kretschman.
“I want to thank Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing and Florida Southern College for helping us get some training in these next couple weeks,” said Eriksen. “The training is a big part of our preparation and for groups such as Polk County and Florida Southern to get behind this team and support us is a huge commitment.”
USA Softball announced their 15-athlete Olympic roster in October 2019, including 12 members of the 2018 WBSC World Championship squad and highlighted by Olympic medallists Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott. After the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 2021, USA Softball confirmed the selected roster for this year’s Olympics.
USA, currently the top-ranked team in the world, earned a berth in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games softball competition by winning the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2018 in Chiba, Japan. They will open their quest for a fourth Olympic gold medal in five editions on 21 July against Italy.
