USA Softball unveils 2023 U.S. Women’s National Team roster and coaching staff set to compete in WBSC World Cup Group A Stage 1 event

OKLAHOMA CITY –– Following three gold medal finishes in 2022, USA Softball is proud to announce its first U.S. Women’s National Team (WNT) roster of the 2023 season as 16 athletes will look to represent Team USA at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup – Group A event slated to take place July 11-15 in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland. The competition will consist of a two-stage format with 18 teams competing across three groups (Group A, B and C) in Stage 1 followed by Stage 2, which will be held in 2024 and will include the top two teams from each group battling it out in the finals.

Competing in Group A, the U.S. will be joined by world-ranked No. 3 Chinese Taipei, No. 9 Australia, No. 16 Great Britain, No. 17 Ireland (host country) and No. 43 Botswana. An additional 12 countries will compete in Group B and Group C.

Returning for her second stint as head coach of the WNT will be Heather Tarr (Washington Head Coach) after guiding three squads to gold medal finishes during the 2022 season. Tarr will once again be joined by assistant coaches Cindy Ball-Malone (UCF Head Coach), Tony Baldwin (Georgia Head Coach) and Tim Walton (Florida Head Coach) following the coaching staff’s monumental gold medal victory at the 2022 World Games.

“The World Cup Group A roster includes a group of very talented athletes selected from our athlete pool that have shown exceptional skill – not only in USA Softball related evaluations, but also on the collegiate and professional levels,” said Tarr. “It’s a versatile group with solid pitching in the circle, some of the best defensive players in the world and both power and speed at the plate.”

Click here to view the compete 2023 U.S. Women’s National Team World Cup roster »

The 2023 U.S. WNT World Cup Group A roster includes 13 returners from the 2022 season, including six from the Canada Cup, five from The World Games, five from the Pan American Championship and five from the Japan All-Star Series. Also highlighting the squad are two members from the 2020 U.S. Olympic Softball Team that helped the Eagles earn silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games. A roster of 15 Team USA veterans and one rookie, the selected athletes combine for 44 medals (34 – Gold, 6 – Silver, 4 – Bronze) throughout their careers in the Red, White and Blue.

Representing three athletic conferences (Pac-12 – 8, SEC – 5, Big 12 – 3), the U.S. squad highlights current (6) and former (10) student athletes from 10 universities with UCLA and Washington each tabbing three athletes, followed by LSU and Oklahoma with two athletes apiece. Also represented with one athlete is Alabama, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Utah.

“With increased opportunities for athletes to continue their playing careers post-college, it goes without saying that the selection of rosters has grown to become even more competitive – which is a great problem to have as athletes continue developing and competing on the collegiate and professional levels,” Tarr added. “We are fortunate to have such a diverse athlete pool when it comes to selecting our U.S. WNT rosters, and I’m excited to get this group of 16 athletes together in Ireland.”

Athletes were selected by the Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC) based on previous and ongoing evaluations at the collegiate and professional levels as well as USA Softball National Team events, trials and camps. In addition to the World Cup Group A roster, USA Softball will also announce a Pan American Games roster later this year.

“We are looking forward to welcoming athletes to the Women’s National Team Camp later this year as well as continuing our evaluation process for selecting the team that will represent the U.S. at the Pan American Games,” said Tarr. “Having the ability to leverage additional evaluation time throughout the end of the collegiate season and into the summer will allow us to craft the best team possible for this event.”

Follow along with the USA Softball National Teams at USASoftball.com.