Wednesday’s gold medal game between USA and Japan drew the highest attendance of The World Games 2022 thus far. According to International World Games Association (IWGA), more than 10,000 spectators flocked to Hoover Met Stadium in Hoover, Alabama, to witness USA’s 3-2 victory over Japan that kept the gold medal and world title on home soil.
“The Met was ELECTRIC. I will never forget last night,” posted Haylie McCleney on Twitter. McCleney and Montana Fouts, both local heroes who played softball for the University of Alabama, received the biggest ovations each night at Hoover Met.
"It’s been a while since I’ve played in front of people,” McCleney said on Monday. “For me and the veterans on this team, that energy the crowd provided us was really special.”
The 10,000+ attendance for softball's gold medal game registers as two times as big as the second-highest attended event of the multi-sport competition thus far. The average softball crowd for the first four days at Hoover Met Stadium was 4,500.
Ally Carda also had some words for the fans during the press conference. “The state of Alabama just loves softball. Having a couple of thousand people over here every night, and being out here and playing in front of them was just electrifying...it was super fun.”
The World Games 2022 served as an official WBSC world title event.
