OKLAHOMA CITY — USA Softball announced today that Amanda Lorenz (Moorpark, Calif.) and Paige Lowary (Dallas Center, Iowa) will be joining the USA Softball Japan All-Star Series roster at the 2018 USA Softball International Cup.
Lorenz, an outfielder who will be entering her senior season at the University of Florida, returns to the lineup after having competed with the Red, White and Blue at the most recent Japan All-Star Series. Lowary, a pitcher who recently graduated from the University of Oklahoma, returns to the Women’s National Team (WNT) program with previous experience, having played on the 2016 Women's Elite Team and the 2015 Junior Women’s National Team (JWNT) which earned Gold at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Junior Women’s World Championship.
The two, along with the Japan All-Star Series roster, are set to compete at the USA Softball International Cup, which is slated for July 9-15 in Irvine, Calif. Hosted by USA Softball of Southern California, the Japan All-Star Series roster will open the tournament against world-ranked No. 10 Czech Republic. Additional matchups include No. 17 Venezuela, No. 31 Colombia, No. 3 Canada, No. 7 Mexico and No. 2 Japan.
Led by Head Coach Patty Gasso (Torrance, Calif./Head Coach at Oklahoma), Laura Berg (Corvallis, Ore./Head Coach at Oregon State), Melyssa Lombardi (Glendale, Ariz./Associate Head Coach at Oklahoma) and two-time Olympian Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif./Director of Operations at CSUN) will serve as Assistant Coaches for the 2018 USA Softball Japan All-Star Series roster at the USA Softball International Cup.
Tickets are on sale now and start at just $15. Ticket information, along with a complete game schedule, can be found at USASoftballInternationalCup.com.
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 in every state through a network of 69 local 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.
