CLEARWATER, Fla. – National Team hopefuls will descend upon Clearwater, Fla. for the 2019 USA Softball National Team Selection Trials.  Held December 29-January 6, 2019 at Fields 1-4 at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex, athletes will aim for a spot on the Junior Women's National Team (JWNT), Women's National Team (WNT) and Men’s National Team (MNT) rosters.  Attendees will participate in a selection process as well as simulated games and will be evaluated by the Men’s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC) and the Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC).

The action kicked off this morning as over 100 athletes from around the U.S. participated in an open tryout for the 2019 USA Softball JWNT.  Athletes participated in position drills, running and hitting while being evaluated by members of the WNTSC.  Leading the open tryout were coaches within the USA Softball WNT Coaching Pool, which included 2019 JWNT Head Coach Heather Tarr (Redmond, Wash./Head Coach Washington).  The top athletes from the open tryout received an invitation to participate at the USA Softball JWNT Selection Trials.  

Athletes who advanced from the Open Tryout

Abigail Annett (Lee, Fla.)

Brianna Aranzeta (League City, Texas)

Mia Buffano (Palm Harbour, Fla.)

Vivian Decker (Lake Mary, Fla.)

Kaylyn Dismukes (Holtville, Ala.)

Bailey Dowling (St. Joseph, Ill.)

Michaela Edenfield (Sneads, Fla.)

Silent Rain Espinoza (San Diego, Calif.)

Kelli Godin (Seal Beach, Calif.)

Jacie Hambrick (Dewey, Ariz.)

Francesca Hammoude (Oakland, Calif.)

Madison Huskey (Cerritos, Calif.)

Brooke Nelson (Bonney Lake, Wash.)

Savanah Whatley (Oakley, Calif.)

Athletes selected from the open tryout will join the athletes who already received an invitation to attend the JWNT Selection Trials, which will be held December 29-January 1, 2019. Following the conclusion of Selection Trials, athletes will be selected to the Junior Women’s National Team Training roster that will compete in the USA Softball International Cup and select tour stops and international events before the final 17-player roster for the WBSC Junior Women’s World Championship will be determined.  Held in Irvine, Calif., the U.S. will look to capture a third-consecutive Gold Medal, having claimed the previous two Junior Women’s World Championship titles in dominating fashion.

Athletes attending the WNT Selection Trials, which will be held January 2-6, will vie for a spot on the 2019 roster that will compete in the USA Softball International Cup and various international events before the roster is trimmed to 15 athletes for the 2019 Pan American Games.  Held in Lima, Peru, the WNT will look to recapture the Pan American Games Gold Medal after falling to Canada at the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games.

A full list of National Team events, including exhibition games, will be released at a later date.  Follow along all summer with all of the USA Softball National Teams at USASoftball.com<http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball>.

About USA Softball
USA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition through a network of Local Associations, which includes all 50 states and select metro associations, and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million. USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch. USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships. The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com<http://www.usasoftball.com/>.

About the World Baseball Softball Confederation
Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland -- the Olympic Capital -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. WBSC has 208 National Federation and Associate Members in 135 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually.

The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Premier12, World Baseball Classic, Baseball World Cups, Softball World Cups and Softball World Championships, as well as baseball and softball events at the Olympic Games.

For more information, visit www.wbsc.org, which is available six languages: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.