USA Softball Men’s National Fast Pitch to Tune-Up in Salem, Va.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The USA Softball Men's National Fast Pitch Team will play four exhibition games June 26-27 at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va., as a tune-up for next month's International Softball Federation World Men’s Softball Championship. 

Team USA will play the Salem Local All-Stars at 6 p.m. and Keatings (Pa.) Fitness Center team at 8 p.m. on Friday. Following a Saturday morning matchup between Salem and Keatings, the National Team will face Salem at 6 p.m. and Keatings at 8 p.m. 

General admission tickets can be purchased each day for $5 at the Moyer Sports Complex. The complex, which is home to the Roanoke softball team, recently hosted the Division II Softball National Championship. 

The ISF World Men’s Championships are July 17-26 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The competition brings together teams from 16 countries including Argentina, Botswana, Czech Republic, Denmark, Great Britain, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela. 

The five-time World Champion Americans will also face tough competition from five-time World Champion New Zealand, which has won the last three World titles (1996, 2000 and 2004), when they kick off pool-play against each other on July 17. Also playing in Saskatoon are 2004 World silver medalists Canada and bronze medalists Australia. 

Although the USA Softball Men's National Fast Pitch Team is one of the most decorated in the world, it has been 21 years since the Americans stood atop the Worlds podium. The program history includes five gold medals (1966, 1968, 1976, 1980 and 1988), one silver (1972) and three bronze (1984, 1992 and 2000). 

The World playoffs are July 24-25 with the medal rounds on July 26. Following the bronze medal game at noon, two teams will play for the 2009 International Softball Federation World Men's Softball Championship title at 3 p.m. in the Bob Van Impe Stadium. 

For more information about Worlds, visit www.2009worldsmensfastpitch.com. 

About ASA 

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 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/. 

About USA Softball 

USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/

Tags: Fast Pitch, USA Softball Men’s National team