World No. 16 Great Britain have announced a two-game exhibition series against the Oklahoma City Spark, a Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF) team, for 6-7 July 2023 to prepare for the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage.
The exhibition series will be a part of preparations by Great Britain for Group A play in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup, which will be played in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland, from 11-16 July. The British squad will face No. 1 USA, No. 3 Chinese Taipei, No. 9 Australia, No. 17 Ireland and No. 43 Botswana in the group stage.
The series, to be called the Royal Spark Challenge, will take place at the National Baseball & Softball Complex at Farnham Park in Buckinghamshire and will mark the first time a professional softball team has played in Great Britain.
“To beat the best, you have to prepare against the best. The Royal Spark Challenge gives us that opportunity and is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between Great Britain Softball and Oklahoma City Spark,” said Great Britain head coach Tara Henry. “In preparation for the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup 2023, we could not think of a better training partner to prepare our squad to compete against some of the best teams in the world.”
The Oklahoma City Spark is a new franchise of the WPF that will be competing in their inaugural season in 2023. The team’s roster features some of the best players in softball, including Jocelyn Alo, Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Moultrie. The traveling roster for the Spark will be announced closer to the series.
Tina Floyd, owner and General Manager of the Spark, said: “To get the opportunity to play Great Britain is so exciting for the Spark and our entire organisation. We feel confident that we will bring great competition with us when we head overseas. We are thrilled to get to showcase the talent of our team on an international platform.
In addition to the exhibition games, the Spark and Great Britain players will run a free fastpitch softball clinic at Farnham Park. The clinic will give softball players in Britain a unique opportunity to learn from both professional and national team players.
