OKLAHOMA CITY –– Continuing to build off the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medal finish, USA Softball announced today the 18 athletes who will represent the United States as a member of the 2022 USA Softball Women’s National Team (WNT) World Games roster. Following a four-day selection process by the Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC), the 15-player roster and three replacement athletes will compete at the 2022 World Games this July in Birmingham, Ala., which will signify as the 2022 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup.Previously announced by USA Softball, Heather Tarr (Redmond, Washington/University of Washington Softball Head Coach) will lead the Red, White and Blue as Head Coach for the 2022 season. The complete coaching staff be announced at a later date.“I am proud of the selection committee in accomplishing the challenging task of choosing the 2022 World Games roster,” said Tarr. “This roster includes both experience and youth, and I truly believe this will be a team that our fans will love to follow as we compete for a gold medal at the 2022 World Games in Alabama this summer. I am so excited to see this team in action and we look forward to building on the foundations laid before us as we enter this era of USA Softball.”

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia –– After recording a 10-0 (four innings) run-rule victory over No. 4 Mexico and finishing the tournament with an undefeated 6-0 record, the USA Softball U-18 Women’s National Team (WNT) claimed the gold medal at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games. Valerie Cagle (Yorktown, Pa.) led the charge tonight, tossing a perfect game while striking out eight of the 12 batters she faced. The U.S. offense combined for 11 hits with Olivia Johnson (Pearland, Texas) going 3-for-3 and Erin Coffel (Bremen, Ind.) and Violet Zavodnik (Murrieta, Calif.) each accounting for two hits apiece, including a long ball from Zavodnik to keep the U.S. home run streak alive at six games.

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia –– The USA Softball U-18 Women’s National Team improved to 3-0 at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games after posting a 13-0 (four innings) win over No. 30 Peru to close out Opening Round. In their third-straight shutout win of the tournament, the U.S. offense combined for 11 hits on the day with Kinsey Fiedler (Summit, Mo.), Keely Williams (Cibolo, Texas) and Olivia Johnson (Pearland, Texas) leading the way with two hits apiece. The longball streak continued for the Eagles as two home runs off the bats of Williams and Violet Zavodnik (Murrieta, Calif.) increased the home run total to 10 through three games.Kicking things off as the visiting team, Williams quickly lit a spark for the Eagles with a leadoff home run over the right field fence to put the U.S. on top, 1-0. A fielding miscue by the Peru defense followed by a walk would put two runners on for Maci Bergeron (Rayne, La.) who pushed a single through the left side to plate two. Alissa Humphrey (Micanopy, Fla.) came out firing in the circle for Team USA, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts and a ground out to end the inning.The bats continued in the top of the second for the Red, White and Blue as Joecellia Roberts (Modesto, Calif.) led off the inning with a double followed by a walk to Williams. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Zavodnik delivered with a shot over the right field fence to extend the U.S. lead, 6-0. Remaining solid on defense, Team USA issued a quick 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame thanks to two strikeouts from Humphrey and a line out to Fiedler.The U.S. would extend their lead in the top of the third after doubles from Fiedler, Rylee Holtorf (Peoria, Ariz.) and Johnson followed by a single from Williams would push three runs across to put the Red, White and Blue ahead, 9-0. For the third straight inning, Humphrey and the U.S. defense would retire the Peru offense in order to return to their final at-bat of the game.Refusing to let off the gas, the Eagles tacked on four more runs in the top of the fourth to extend their lead 13-0. A single from Erin Coffel (Bremen, Ind.) and a walk from Bergeron would put runners in scoring position for Fiedler who crushed a line drive to right field to score one. A fielder’s choice from Holtorf and an infield RBI from Roberts plated two more runs followed by a single up the middle from Johnson to plate the final run of the game.The Peru offense gained their first baserunner of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but the U.S. defense stranded the runner with a nicely fielded bunt and two strikeouts from Humphrey to seal the 13-0 win. Humphrey dominated in the circle, retiring seven batters via a strikeout while limiting the Peru offense to just one hit in four innings.After posting three straight wins with a combined total of 51 runs scored, Team USA secured the No. 1 spot in Group A and will return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET for the first matchup of the Super Round. Live stats will be available through USASoftball.com.Team USA will join the No. 2 seed from Group A as well as the No. 1 and 2 seeds from Group B in the Super Round with the final two countries at the top of the leader board going head-to-head in the Junior Pan American Championship on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET. The third and fourth-place teams will compete for the bronze medal earlier that day.

Jason Michael Brainard, age 52, of Wichita, Kansas passed away on Monday, November 15, 2021. Jason was born May 29, 1969. His first job out of college was in Law Enforcement starting with Pontiac Prison and then transferred into Law Enforcement with Livingston County Sheriff's Department in Pontiac, IL. While working for Livingston Police Department, Jason coached Flanagan High School football and worked for Flanagan school district. Prior to becoming Federal Security Director, he completed Air Marshall Training in New Mexico.

OKLAHOMA CITY –– USA Softball, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, is proud to announce that Heather Tarr (Redmond, Washington/Washington Softball Head Coach) has been selected as the Head Coach for the 2022 USA Softball Women’s National Team (WNT). Selected by members of the USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC), Tarr will lead the Red, White and Blue at the 2022 World Games in addition to various international competitions throughout the year. A historic selection for the USA Softball National Teams program, Tarr will be the sixth female Head Coach at the helm of the WNT following Rosalie Sorenson (1970), Marge Ricker (1982), Carol Spanks (1987), Shirley Topley (1991) and Margie Wright (1998).

The softball community is mourning after the loss of Coach Bill Hicks.

Find the Unity vs. Grapettes softball photo gallery from the 2021 PGF National Championship Premier 14U. Photos by John McCoy of USA TODAY Sports.

Japan captured its second consecutive gold medal with a  2-0 win over the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Yukiko Ueno provided six shutout innings and her squad scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to earn the shutout victory.

What does it mean to be a Birmingham Thunderbolt?

As the 2021 summer travel softball season winds down, the best 16U teams from across the nation will converge on Southern California to compete in the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championship tournament. A quick look at some of the top teams competing is below.

Give us the ocean cool breeze, the fruit lady, and late nights of amazing softball. Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals is finally here. FloSoftball will be streaming all eight fields from Huntington Beach Sports Complex from July 27-30 and from July 30-31 we will stream the Platinum Championships. Below we take a look at some of the top teams that will be playing over the weekend.

Winning a national championship at any level isn’t easy. It’s even more challenging to win multiple times.

COLUMBUS, GA. – Sixty-three teams battled all throughout the week, narrowing the playing field to two final teams per division on the final day of the 2021 USA Softball Junior Olympic (JO) Cup. After three thrilling Championship matchups, a 14-Under, 16-Under and 18-Under Champion raised their trophies at South Commons Complex. The Championship games kicked off this morning with the 14-Under finalists taking the field. Atlanta Vipers 14U Harris took the trophy with a 3-0 shutout win over Florida Impact Gold Ladd 06. In the 16-Under division, Hotshots Premier 2022 Alabama got down early but fought back to defeat Ohio Hawks 16U National, 5-3. The final game of the week ended in dramatic fashion as LLG DPS Corn rallied from behind to clinch a 6-5 victory over Atlanta Vipers 18U-Holbrook, securing their second consecutive USA Softball JO Cup Championship. 14-Under: Atlanta Vipers 14U Harris vs. Impact Gold Ladd 06  Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris struck first and never looked back. After a dropped third strike, Jordan Williams (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris) took off and reached first base before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Avery Callaway (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris). Williams scored the first run of the game on a single from Desiree Trudel (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris). Both teams were quiet in the second inning as solid defense retired each side in order. Kaitlyn Everson (Florida Impact Gold Ladd 06) singled in the top of the third, but Hannah Cole (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris) took care of business in the circle and worked out of the inning without allowing a run. Izzy Carlyle (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris) drew a walk to start off the bottom of the frame for Atlanta Vipers and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Williams. A single from Trudel plated Carlyle, extending the Vipers lead to 2-0. Florida Impact got on base after Neveah Hayes (Florida Impact Gold Ladd 06) singled to left field to start the fourth. A sacrifice bunt and a single moved Hayes to third before Makenna Sturgis (Florida Impact Gold Ladd 06) was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Once again, Cole took back control and found a way out of the jam, leaving the inning unscathed. The Vipers put two on with no outs in the bottom of the fifth after a single from Carlyle and Williams reaching on an error. In the circle for Florida Impact, Reese Gill (Florida Impact Gold Ladd 06) fired back with a strikeout and a fly out to end the inning. A no-doubt, leadoff home run from Cadence Alberty (Atlanta Vipers 14U Gold Harris) gave the Vipers a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cole retired Florida Impact in order to secure the Vipers 3-0 victory and the coveted title of 2021 USA Softball JO Cup 14-Under Champion.16-Under: Ohio Hawks 16U National vs. Hotshots Premier 2022 AlabamaOhio Hawks 16U National started the game hot, getting an early 2-0 lead on Hotshots Premier 2022 Alabama in the second inning. Hotshots Premier fired back in the third with a rally that was sparked by back-to-back base knocks. Emmorie Burke (Hotshots Premier) crushed a double that one-hopped the left field fence, resulting in two runs to tie the contest. Hotshots Premier continued to chip away at the Ohio Hawks defense, tacking on two more runs in the fourth when Tenly Grisham (Hotshots Premier) laced a double to the outfield. The Ohio Hawks put up a run in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score to 5-3, but were unable to produce anything else. Hotshots Premier's defense once again shut down Ohio Hawks in the seventh to win the game and the title of the 2021 USA Softball JO Cup 16-Under Champion. 18-Under: Atlanta Vipers 18U - Holbrook vs. LLG DPS Corn 18UTyesha Williams (LLG DPS Corn) drew a walk to start the game for LLG before advancing to third on a ground ball hit by Malaka Lanette (LLG DPS Corn) followed by an error. A single from Elisa Smith (LLG DPS Corn) brought both Williams and Lanette in to score, putting LLG up early, 2-0. Jaydyn Goodwin (Atlanta Vipers 18U-Holbrook) knocked a single in her first at-bat for Atlanta Vipers 18U-Holbrook as did Makenna Segal (Atlanta Vipers 18U-Holbrook), but Lauren Wills (LLG DPS Corn) ended their rally by forcing a groundout to get out of the inning without a run scored. LLG posted another run in the top of the second when Reagan Hartley (LLG DPS Corn) scored on a passed ball, extending their lead to 3-0. The Vipers answered back in a hurry, forcing two LLG errors in the bottom of the fifth that led to one run. The Vipers continued their tear, tying things up two plays later when Goodwin reached on an error to score two more runs. The rally was ended by a groundout, but not before the Vipers took the lead 5-3. In the top of the sixth, LLG found their stride and put runners on base. LLG put even more pressure on the defense when Karlee Mae (LLG DPS Corn) stole home to bring her team within one run. A walk and a wild pitch to follow would put LLG up 6-5 going into the final inning. The Vipers wouldn’t go down without a fight as Lauren Flanders (Atlanta Vipers 18U-Holbrook) singled in the bottom of the seventh to put a runner on base. However, Lauren Wiles (LLG DPS Corn) remained calm under pressure and forced a fly out to end the game and secure LLG’s second consecutive USA Softball JO Cup title.

During a one-week span beginning at the end of June and finishing up on the 4th of July, over 800 softball teams will arrive in the greater Denver area. This year the Colorado 4th of July tournament is celebrating its 52nd anniversary, and as always, will feature some of the top club softball teams from across the country.

Find the 2021 Tulsa Elite Summer Invite softball photo gallery. Photos by Rob Ferguson of USA TODAY Sports.