Men’s Game to Be Carried on ESPN

From Al’s Fastball:

Oklahoma City—The AmateurSoftball Association (ASA) announced today it will be hosting the inauguralAmerican Challenge Series, July 12-15, at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City. TheAmerican Challenge Series will be held in conjunction with the 3rdWorld Cup of Softball and will feature the USA Softball Men’s NationalTeam.

The schedule for the American Challenge Series will not be finalizeduntil early March but is expected to include four of the top teams in the world including the USA and JapanESPN will partner with the ASA for the third consecutive year to broadcast theWorld Cup of Softball and for the first time ever, ESPN will be televising one of the USA Men’s games on its network. The ASA is also in the midstof finalizing international broadcasting agreements for both the World Cup andthe American Challenge Series throughout Europe, Asia and the rest of the America’s guaranteeing unparalleled exposure for the sport in prime time windows.

ESPN and its family of networks and media platforms have been exceptional partners with the ASA for years. ESPN.com is the title sponsor ofthe USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll and its networks have aired the WorldCup the past two seasons and the ASA Girl’s 18-Under Gold Fast PitchNational Championship in 2006. A national TV audience of over 9 million households tuned in to the II World of Cup of Softball on ESPN and ESPN2 in theUnited StatesRatings for the II World Cup of Softball were up nearly 50% on both networksand the semifinal game between US and Japanbeat the NCAA WCWS finals to rank as the highest softball telecast in the US.

The American Challenge Series was developed by the ASA to help exposethe men’s fast pitch game to fans who attend the World Cup and to givethe USA Men’s National Team an opportunity to play on American soil. Thiswill be the first time an International Softball Federation (ISF) men’sfast pitch event has been hosted in the U.S. in more than a decade. The lastevent held in the U.S. wasthe 1996 ISF Men’s World Championship in Midland, Mich.

“We are very excited to be hosting the inaugural AmericanChallenge Series in Oklahoma Citythis summer,” said ASA Executive Director Ron Radigonda. “This is avery unique opportunity for softball fans to get to see both their nationalteams play in one location. Men’s fast pitch is a very exciting sport towatch and I have no doubt fans are going to be treated to some greataction.”

Advanced pre-sale tickets for the 3rd World Cup of Softball are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.softballoutlet.com

The advanced pre-sale includes all-session tickets only. All-session premiumreserved seats are available for $100, all-session grandstand reserved seatsare $50 and all-session general admission seats are available for $30. Anyoneholding a ticket to the 3rd World Cup of Softball will receive freeadmission into the American Challenge Series.

USA Softball will be holding a selection camp, May 25-28, at theOlympic Training Center in Chula Vista Calif., to select the 2007 USASoftball Men’s National Team that will compete in the American ChallengeSeries.

Players who have been invited to this camp include:

Paul Algar (Lexington, Ill.); Chad Boom (Barnesville, Minn.); Todd Budke(Quartz Hill, Calif.); Gregg Cascaes (Apple Valley, Minn.); Frank DeGroat, Jr.(Ringwood, N.J.); Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.); Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.);Chad Ferguson (Battle Creek, Mich.); Don Garvey (Appleton, Wis.); Lucas Goring(St. Paul, Minn.); BJ Hunhoff (Harrisburg, S.D.); Chris Hunt (Whittier,Calif.); Tim Hunt (La Habra, Calif.); Luis Joglar (Fairview, N.J.); Tony Kunka (Moorhead, Minn.); Adam LaLonde(Kentwood, Mich.); Jason Loe (Sioux Falls, S.D.); Terry Luster (Bunceton, Mo.);Kyle Magnusson (Salt Lake City, Utah); Anthony Martinez (Covina, Calif.); ChrisMiljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.); Blake Miller (Albany, Ga.); Omar Moraga (Tucson,Ariz.); James Pecoraro (Swansea, Ill.); Tony Peeples (San Miguel, Calif.); Philip Perkins (St. Michaels, Ariz.); Travis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.); Orlando Rodriguez (Haverstraw, N.Y.); Todd Schultz (Williamston, Mich.); Cody Thomson(Auburn, Wyo.); Michael White (Eugene, Ore.)