OKLAHOMA CITY — The final 17-player roster for the 2018 USA Softball Junior Men’s National Team (JMNT) has been named, USA Softball announced today. Athletes selected will represent the U.S. at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Junior Men’s World Championship July 7-15, 2018 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Click here to see the final Junior Men’s World Championship roster
“Since I have taken over this program, the hardest thing I have had to do put together this final roster,” said USA Softball Junior Men’s National Team Head Coach Tyron McKinney (Ashland, Ohio). “Our training team roster put in a lot of work and time and made it a very hard decision for the Selection Committee members and our coaching staff to narrow the list down to the final 17. We have one more stop on our journey this weekend in Salt Lake City and I look forward to building on the momentum we’ve created so far this season as we begin our final preparations for the World Championship. I am so proud of this group of young men, and we are confident that we have put the best roster in place to shock the world!”
Members of the 2018 JMNT roster will begin their final preparation for the WBSC Junior Men’s World Championship this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Larry H. Miller Pioneer Days tournament. Slated for June 29-July 1, Team USA will participate in exhibition games prior to their opening game of the tournament on June 29 at 7:30 p.m. MT against Pueblo Bandits. Live streaming and live stats will be available for Team USA’s matchups this weekend, and links can be found at USASoftball.com.
After the Larry J. Miller Pioneer Days tournament, the U.S. will head north to Prince Albert for the WBSC Junior Men’s World Championship. Team USA is set to open the WBSC Junior Men’s World Championship against Canada in its opening match July 7 at 7:30 p.m. MT (8:30 p.m. CT). The Red, White and Blue are also scheduled to play Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hong Kong and New Zealand as part of preliminary round-robin action before heading into the playoff rounds. The top four finishers from each group will advance to the double page playoff round, while nations not advancing will compete in the placement round.
With McKinney at the helm of the Junior Men’s Program, the U.S. coaching staff also includes Tony Aresco (Stoneham, Mass.), Mike Armitage (Normal, Ill.) and Bob Piddock (Castro Valley, Calif.).
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.
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 202 National Federation and Associate Members in 143 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 Softball World Championships (Men, Women, U-19 Men, and U-19 Women), Premier12, World Baseball Classic, and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women’s).
For more information, visit: www.wbsc.org.