Eight Wildcats to try out for Olympic softball team
Eight former, current and future Wildcat softball players have been invited to participate in the upcoming Women’s National Team Olympic Selection Camp on September 10-14 in Chula Vista, Calif., the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball announced Friday.
Pitcher Taryne Mowatt, incoming 2008 recruit Brittany Lastrapes and former players Jennie Finch, Mackenzie Vandergeest, Lovie Jung, Alicia Hollowell, Caitlin Lowe and Kristie Fox will represent the Wildcats as one-fourth of the invitees.
Finch and Jung were members of the 2004 Olympic gold medalist team, and along with Lowe and Hollowell played with Team USA on its summer tour this year.
The squad posted a 20-0 record on the way to three gold medals that included a second World Cup title, sixth consecutive Pan Am gold medal and top honors at the Canada Cup.
During those three events, the team outscored their opponents 164-4 while posting a .426 batting average. The pitching staff held opponents to a .115 batting average.
The team selected on September 17 will represent the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the last Games to feature softball until at least 2016.
Two Arizona women’s golfers compete internationally
Arizona women’s golfers Mary Jacobs and Alison Walshe will compete in a few international events before the start of school to wrap up an already busy summer.
Jacobs, a junior, will represent the U.S. at the World University Games in Nakhonnayok, Thailand. She is part of a three-woman team that includes Selanee Henderson of UC-Irvine and Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana of Stanford.
Fifty-four holes will be played at the Games Aug. 14-17. It is the first time that golf has been included as part of the program.
Walshe, also a junior, won the prestigious North and South Women’s Amateur on July 22. She won six matches over eight days at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course in Village of Pinehurst, N.C.
Walshe also represented the United States at the 32nd Annual Fuji Xerox U.S.A. vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., July 11-13. Japan claimed the title in a tiebreaker, topping the U.S. in total strokes, 2,650-2,657.
Additionally, Walshe will compete in the 107th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship today through Sunday at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind.
Two UA men’s golfers qualify to play in U.S. Amateur
Two Arizona men’s golfers qualified to play in the 2007 U.S. Amateur Championship, as Tyler Neal and Nathan Tyler claimed spots in sectional qualifying Tuesday.
Neal, a sophomore from Tucson, claimed the fifth and final qualifying slot at Wigwam Country Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz., in a playoff.
It will be the second consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship appearance for Neal, who also qualified for the 2006 event.
Tyler, a 2007 UA graduate from Tucson, won the same qualifier at Wigwam Country Club. He topped the field by one stroke. It will be his first career U.S. Amateur Championship appearance.
– Arizona Summer Wildcat
