Melissa Roth Set for USA Softball's Pan American Qualifier
Check back for Roth's updates from Venezuela
 
Melissa Roth

Melissa Roth

July 29, 2009

University of Louisville catcher Melissa Roth is set to help represent the USA Softball Women's National team in the Pan Am Qualifier in Maracay, Venezuela, July 31-Aug. 9. The senior from Long Beach, Calif., is the first U of L player to participate in the USA Softball program and will join several veteran Olympic players as well other elite collegiate players in the country.

Roth will also be updating UofLSports.com with blogs during her time in Venezuela.

The Pan American qualifier consists of 22 teams and will qualify the USA for the ISF Women's Fast Pitch World Championships next year in Oklahoma City as well as the Pan American Games in 2011 held in Guadalajara, Mexico. The team opens competition against the British Virgin Islands on July 31, competing in ten pool play games before play offs begin on Aug. 7. The championship game is set for Aug.9.

As a junior, Roth led the Cardinals in virtually every offensive category this season including team-high numbers in batting average (.444), home runs (16), RBI (53), runs scored (64), slugging percentage (.870) and on-base percentage (.566). The 2009 BIG EAST Player of the Year was an All-Great Lakes Region team member and was also a four-time league Player of the Week this season. Roth recently became the first Louisville player to be invited to the USA Softball National Team Selection Camp.

The roster for the 2009 USA Softball Pan American Qualifier Team is as follows: Monica Abbott - Salinas, Calif.
K'Lee Arredondo - Tempe, Ariz.
Brandice Balschmiter - Newark, N.Y.
Chelsea Bramlett - Cordova, Tenn.
Kaitlin Cochran - Yorba Linda, Calif.
Andrea Duran - Selma, Calif.
Vicky Galindo - Union City, Calif.
Ashley Hansen - Chandler, Ariz.
Ashley Holcombe - Fayetteville, Ga.
Megan Langenfeld - Bakersfield, Calif.
Caitlin Lowe - Tustin, Calif.
Nikki Nemitz - St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Melissa Roth - Long Beach, Calif.
Katie Schroeder - Yorba Linda, Calif.
Angela Tincher - Eagle Rock, Va.
Maggie Viefhaus - Pacific, Mo.
Tammy Williams - Roscoe, Mo.

 

 

Be sure to visit www.usasoftball.com for complete coverage of all these events. The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
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