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It’s a big week for the 2018 USA Softball Women’s National Team (WNT) coaches and players arrived Monday in Conroe, Texas to train and compete at the Scrap Yard Sports Complex with –and against— players of Scrap Yard Fast Pitch, an independent pro team that has 42 elite pro players.
More than a dozen of the players on the Women’s National Team are also members of Scrap Yard Fast Pitch and competed last week on the Nationals team versus the Scrap Yard squad on games live streamed on Extra Inning Softball’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
These players— including some of the top players in the world such as Monica Abbott, Amanda Chidester, Taylor Edwards, Aubree Munro, Carley Hoover, Holly Ward, Valerie Arioto, Kelsey Stewart, Kasey Cooper, Emily Griggs, Hannah Flippin, Haylie McCleney, Janie Takeda-Reed, Jazymn Jackson, Vanessa Shippy, Tori Vidales and Mo Mercado—are using the opportunity to compete this summer with Scrap Yard Fast Pitch to hone their skills and prepare for international competition.
They are reuniting this week with fellow members of the Women’s National Team to train and participate in a series of practices and workouts before competing in six games starting this Friday and concluding Sunday (see schedule below for dates and times) at the Sports Complex.
To access the players on each team, you can click HERE for the Scrap Yard Fast Pitch roster and HERE for the Team USA roster
For the Women’s National Team, both the World Championship and the Japan All-Star Series rosters are in Texas to get experience against other elite U.S. players before embarking on a series of important international competitions.
“Last year we began our journey through the qualifying process to get to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” said World Championship Head Coach Ken Eriksen in a release issued by TeamUSA.org.
“Today is another destination in this Journey to Japan. We must set our immediate sights on qualifying for the Olympic Games by being very successful at the 2018 (WBSC) World Championship.”
“The training this week and throughout the summer will include competitions against some very worthy opponents. The Scrap Yard Softball Organization has graciously provided an opportunity for us to not only train but to have some competition that will ready the U.S. program for the rest of the summer.”
“I think it’s also important to recognize the willingness of programs, collegiate and professional, that have allowed their star players the opportunity to represent the United States internationally this summer. If we can put in a great next 50 days of hard work and focus, I believe we will defend our 2016 World Championship.”
“It’s exciting to work with this group of athletes,” added Japan All-Star Series Head Coach Laura Berg. “This week will be important for us to get some games under our belt and build team chemistry before we leave for Japan.”
In preparation for international competitions this summer, both USA Softball WNT rosters will play exhibition contests against Scrap Yard Fast Pitch with the USA teams broken into two teams, both of which are part of the Women’s National Team program, but competing in different events:
- USA Red—which comprises the members of the WBSC World Championship roster
- USA Blue—which includes members who will participate in the Japan All-Star Series.
The Blue team got a big pickup this week as it was announced Tuesday that Amanda Lorenz will be participating in the Japan All-Star Series. Lorenz, an All-American outfielder who just finished her junior season at the University of Florida, returns to the USA Softball WNT program having played on the 2016 Women’s Elite Team.
Lorenz and the rest of the Blue team will participate next week—June 20-23—in the Japan All-Star Series facing the Japanese National team in a three-game series.
But first, the Women’s National Red & Blue Teams will face the Scrap Yard Fastpitch Team this weekend in the follow six games:
TEAM USA vs. SCRAP YARD FAST PITCH SCHEDULE (June 15-17, 2018)
| Date | Opponent | Time |
| June 15 | USA Blue vs Scrap Yard Fast Pitch | 5 p.m. CT |
| USA Red vs Scrap Yard Fast Pitch | 7:30 p.m. CT | |
| June 16 | USA Blue vs Scrap Yard Fast Pitch | 2 p.m. CT |
| USA Blue vs USA Red | 4:30 p.m. CT | |
| USA Red vs Scrap Yard Fast Pitch | 7 p.m. CT | |
| June 17 | USA Red vs Scrap Yard Fast Pitch | 12 p.m. CT |
All six contests will be live streamed on the Extra Inning Softball Facebook and YouTube sites along with the USASoftball.com platform for fans to access and watch for free throughout the upcoming weekend.
The Scrap Yard Sports Complex is situated on 82 acres just north of Houston, Texas and includes 10 all-turf fields, 14 indoor batting cages/pitching lanes and a 15,000 square foot indoor training facility.
Fans who would like to watch these teams comprised of many of the best softball players in the world can attend the games in person, with general admission tickets available for $5 per day.
Military, first responders, youth athletes in their player uniform and children under six years old will receive free admission.
Immediately after the training camp, players on the Japan All-Star Series roster will head to Tokyo for a three-game series before joining the World Championship roster in Irvine, Calif. to compete against many of the top-ranked teams in the world at the USA Softball International Cup July 9-15.