Laing Harrow was confirmed as the Head Coach of the Australia Softball National Team for Tokyo 2020 and beyond after he agreed to a new contract with Softball Australia. Harrow’s official position under the new contract is High-Performance Pathway and Head Coach of the Travelodge Aussie Spirit in a multi-year deal which extends beyond the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Since his original appointment as Head Coach in 2018, Harrow steered the Australian women’s team to fourth place in the Japan Cup, a semi-final appearance in the Asia Pacific Cup and also coached the Aussie Peppers of Minnesota in the 2019 National Pro Fastpitch season.
Harrow’s best achievement to date with the team undoubtedly came at the WBSC Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualifier, where Australia went undefeated in five games, scoring 37 runs and allowing just four against with no errors recorded in the field. The dominant performance locked up the final spot available at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“To qualify back into the Olympics is a great achievement, but I go back the other way and seeing where we've come from as a team has been just as impressive,” said Harrow.
“To look at the improvements the girls have made individually and as a team in a year is very pleasing and they're are enjoying being around each other and enjoying just playing softball.
“And from that, we’re playing at a really high level.”
Early in 2020, Australia will host one more time the Asia Pacific Cup at Blacktown from 30 January to 2 February, ahead of the exciting Summer Slam – Fully Loaded Softball from 3 – 5 February.
Australia has won an Olympic medal in each of the previous four Softball Olympic competitions, eaning a silver medal in Athens 2004, and bronze medals in Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.
