World Cup of Softball

2007 World Cup of Softball Coverage

The third World Cup of Softball takes place this weekend with Team USA looking to keep the title it won from Japan last year. We have updates and video all weekend. Check out our new location: World Cup of Softball 2007

Interview with Michele Smith Pt. II

Michele Smith is one of the greatest softball pitchers of all time. She has won countless gold medals and helped put USA Softball on the international map both with her work at the Olympics and playing abroad in Japan. This is Part II of our discussion where she talks about the future of softball and the IOC's controversial decision to drop the sport from international competition. Be sure to check out Pt. I of our conversation.

You’re right the pitching staff is young and talented with the likes of Cat Osterman, Jennie Finch, Jamie Southern, Monica Abbott, and Alicia Hollowell. And they’ve been dominant so far in this tournament but how do you think they will fare in Beijing?

It’s easy to play when you’re 14 runs up. The pressure is going to be when they have to perform in 0-0 games and when that one bad pitch can lose the game for your team. I think they can. They just have to be in that situation.

Turning to something a little less pleasant what happened with the IOC dropping softball from the Olympics?

It’s very political. I think they made a decision in July. I think they expected to make that decision for baseball and not for softball. It was a comedy of events for softball to get voted out. It just kind of happened.

Then when we appealed to have a re-vote they voted not to have the re-vote simply because they were afraid it would look bad if the sport was voted back in. so now they’re more worried about what they look like rather than doing the right thing. That’s politics. That’s terrible.

Do you think it possibly has an anti-American component to it?

Oh, I think so as well. And I think they categorize it as female baseball, but softball is a completely different sport. We’re drug-free; we’ve done a lot of great things. I mean the rest of the world has to catch up to the U.S. a little bit. We’re the benchmark. Everyone else has to keep working hard.

How can we get softball back at the Olympics?

Well, I definitely think we have to keep fighting for 2016 and if we can get one of the North American cities named as the host city I think there’s a good chance we’ll get put back onto the program.

There might need to be some changes to the game too. Nobody wants to keep watching games that are 14-0 wins.

What kinds of changes do you think those might be?

I think there’s a couple different things that could potential happen. In 2000 when the games were at 40 feet the games were exciting. Now granted they did go too long but at least they were competitive and everybody had a chance to beat us. Australia had a chance to beat us and did. Japan had a chance to beat us and did beat us. China did the same thing. That’s exciting.

That will gather fans. When it’s blowouts all the time and those other programs can’t step up to play this game it’s a little bit tougher. In the 40 feet game it was more difficult to hit no matter who you were. The thing with the 40 feet game is that they should have shrunk the strike zone. They probably should have moved back the fences, shrunk the strike zone, and make the pitchers throw it over the plate. Then you would have gotten your hits. At 43 feet the U.S. is just so dominating—it’s very difficult to shut them down. As an American I’m always happy to see then do well. As a fan of the game I want to see the sport grow. I do think we have some work to do.

What direction do you see softball going in the next 10-15 years?

Well I think it’s going to continue to be strong in the NCAA here in the U.S. My main concern is what’s going to happen to all these international programs that now don’t have International Olympic funding from their national governing bodies. Not as much Japan because there’s great corporate sponsorship.

But I worry about the Chinese teams---the Australian teams—Italy, Great Britain, and Greece. Any of the teams that were really starting to make some progress in the European countries where we have to get stronger—it’s essentially going to kill them over there. So we have to continue to grow and find a way to get back on the program.

I challenged a lot of the players on this team that it’s their job to continue to carry the torch and help grow the sport worldwide. Being strong in the U.S. isn't enough anymore. Nobody wants to watch a one-team tournament anymore.

USA Softball conditioning techniques

Brandon Marcello is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for USA Softball and for Baylor University. We spoke to him to get his thoughts on how he prepared the team for the World Cup of Softball—and on-field temperatures that reached as high as 110 degrees.

What are the responsibilities of a Strength and Conditioning Coach? For the USA Softball team the responsibilities are to develop strength and conditioning programs for the girls based on an individual prescription.

We need to know what the needs of the sport dictate, what the needs of the position dictate, and we need to know what the needs of each individual is within each of those descriptions. Whether it’s a pitcher, infielder, outfielder, etc.

How are the needs different by position in softball? A lot of it depends on limiting factors. If you look at it by position pitchers need more overall stamina than the other positions. If you’re looking at catchers you know that hip mobility plays an important part. There’s a lot of things which transcend all the positions such as balance, stability, shoulder stability, hip stability—things of that nature. But the goal is to attack that specific limiting factor and find something that helps an athlete lift up their game.

I noticed your pre-game warm-up with had a lot of balance and coordination drills. With a sport such as softball it’s very chaotic. You don’t know where the ball is going to be at all—so you have to be able to respond and react. And being in balance is absolutely key to success. But it isn’t just on the conditioning side.

We also stress being in close communication with the rest of the support staff such as the massage therapist, the team physician, and the team athletic trainer. We all work in concert with each other to find out exactly what the athlete’s needs are.

What are some of the common injuries you guys are looking out for and what do you do to treat them? The common injuries are typically shoulder injuries and lower back injuries. So depending on what injuries they may have had coming up and injury histories are very well-known. But we have a very healthy group. We’re lucky not to have many injuries at all.

At this stage it’s more of an overuse thing. Sometimes that’s an issue with pitchers but we have so many good ones—who can all be considered #1 pitchers. So the workload can be spread across pretty well. The big thing is to make sure they are conditioned and they don’t fatigue as quickly. When fatigue sets in that’s when you’re setting yourself up for possible injuries to occur. So if we can increase that stamina where they don’t get fatigued as quickly we’ve made a great contribution for injury prevention. And hopefully it translated onto the field.

World Cup of Softball Photo Album

Check out these exclusive photos from the final trophy ceremony and post-game autograph session from USA's Softball victorious run at the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City. One of the coolest things I've ever seen were all the players signing autographs for up to an hour and a half after the final game. Way to go girls! You rock!

Final Comments... from Jessica Mendoza

We did it! We brought the World Cup trophy back to the US and we could not have asked for a better tournament. One of the main questions I was asked after the game from both reporters and fans was “What was the difference between last year’s team that lost and this year’s team that won?”

To answer that question in a few sentences, we were prepared. We have been training as a team since January. The training not only better prepared us physically, but mentally we were able to bond better as a team and get to know the new additions we have gained since the last Olympics. This training made us more the USA team I have known from 2004 and before. We could work on the little things that get swept under the carpet when we are in the middle of the summer season, but are so important for big games like last night.

It was great to see our team come together the way we did this week and perform. There were so many remnants of our team from 2004 and it was exciting. But I do have to say the most exciting part of this tournament, for me, were the fans. They were amazing! Not only was the game last night sold out, but I felt that all 6,700 fans were completely into it – cheering at every good play or hit, holding their breath, and even reacting to every call the same way we were. I always said I wish I could play in a stadium like a major league baseball player and tonight was living that dream. I really want to thank the fans who came out to support us this week. They made this World Cup much more memorable than I could have ever imagined. Thank you – our whole team appreciated every one of you!!!