{"id":30686,"date":"2017-03-03T13:14:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T21:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30686"},"modified":"2017-03-03T13:17:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T21:17:11","slug":"eighteen-initial-athletes-to-train-and-vie-for-spot-on-2017-usa-softball-mens-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30686","title":{"rendered":"Eighteen initial athletes to train and vie for spot on 2017 USA Softball Men\u2019s National Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_29620\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29620\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/usa-softball\/team-usa\/mens-fast-pitch\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29620\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USASoftball_Logo_300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USASoftball_Logo_300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USASoftball_Logo_300-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USASoftball_Logo_300-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29620\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click logo to visit the official website for USA Softball<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>From Codi Warren, USA Softball<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 USA Softball has announced today that an initial 18 athletes have been selected to continue their training for a spot on the 2017 USA Softball Men\u2019s National Team (MNT). Selected by members of the Men\u2019s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC), these athletes will compete in in the Rodney Fox Memorial Tournament in Stevens, Pa. from <span data-term=\"goog_232149591\">May 19-21<\/span> and the Father\u2019s Day Memorial Tournament in Houston, Texas from<span data-term=\"goog_232149592\">June 16-18<\/span>.\u00a0 The 17-player roster for the 2017 USA Softball MNT will be determined prior to the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men\u2019s Women&#8217;s World Championship, which will be held <span data-term=\"goog_232149593\">July 4-17<\/span> in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/usa-softball\/team-usa\/mens-fast-pitch\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/usa-softball\/team-usa\/mens-fast-pitch&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1488661885589000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH-CrBOWK91HSqm0ihoMQlKtjJ8bA\">Click here to see the athletes selected to the 2017 USA Softball MNT Training Team<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In all, 13 athletes have previous USA Softball experience as either a member of the MNT or Junior Men\u2019s National Team (JMNT) while five will suit up for the Red, White and Blue for the first time.\u00a0 Currently ranked No. 6 in the world, the U.S. will look to improve upon a ninth-place finish at the 2015 WBSC World Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where the team finished with a 7-3 record and placed first in the Playoff Rounds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With Denny Bruckert at the helm of the Men&#8217;s Program, the U.S. coaching staff also includes Greg Hicks (Bakersfield, Calif.), Gregg Leather (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Nick McCurry (Ashland, Ohio).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the USA Softball MNT, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/USA-Softball\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/USA-Softball&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1488661885590000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHafEaEhdZVDim_pKjqTs3ZX0GvHg\">USASoftball.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About USA Softball<br \/>\n<\/strong>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\u2019s largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 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. \u00a0USA 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.\u00a0 USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships. \u00a0The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation\u2019s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.<\/p>\n<p>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, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usasoftball.com\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.USASoftball.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1488661885590000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG9giWsYoqZdfwNeHYQZQGZMJNe8Q\">www.USASoftball.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>2017 Events<\/strong><\/p>\n<table align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Dates\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Event<\/strong><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\"><strong>\u00a0Location<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Media\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>May 19-21<\/td>\n<td>Rodney Fox Memorial Tournament<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\">Stevens, Pa.<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.2017mensworldsoftball.com\/media\/\" target=\"_blank\">Credential request<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>June 16-18<\/td>\n<td>Father&#8217;s Day Memorial<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\">Houston, Texas<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.2017mensworldsoftball.com\/media\/\" target=\"_blank\">Credential request<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>July 1-3<\/td>\n<td>Vancouver Challenge<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\">Vancouver, B.C., Canada<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.2017mensworldsoftball.com\/media\/\" target=\"_blank\">Credential request<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>July 7-16, 2017<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.2017mensworldsoftball.com\/\">WBSC Men&#8217;s World Championship<\/a><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\">Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.2017mensworldsoftball.com\/media\/\" target=\"_blank\">Credential requ<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Codi Warren, USA Softball &nbsp; OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 USA Softball has announced today that an initial 18 athletes have been selected to continue their training for a spot on the 2017 USA Softball Men\u2019s National Team (MNT). Selected by members of the Men\u2019s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC), these athletes will compete in in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,19,61],"tags":[125,641],"class_list":{"0":"post-30686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-players","9":"category-usa-softball","10":"tag-usasoftball","11":"tag-usmnt2017","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30689,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30686\/revisions\/30689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}