SOFTBALL: USA Softball Back In Action

LAS CRUCES, N.M.-After a week break, the USA Softball Women's National team kicks off a segment of the KFC Bound 4 Beijing tomorrow, where they will compete in eight states in about two weeks, announced today by the Amateur Softball Association. The team will face nine teams opening up with New Mexico State at 2:00 p.m. on Sun., April 6 in Las Cruces and close with UCLA on Tue., April 22 at 6:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, Calif. They will compete against eight Division I schools and one ASA All-Star Team. Among those schools, Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.) will face the team that backed her around the circle at the 2007 WCWS in Tennessee. Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) will compete against her alma mater Alabama while Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.), Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, Calif.), Tairia Flowers (Tucson, Ariz.), Stacey Nuveman (La Verne, Calif.) and Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.) will return to the school where they all earned National Championships at UCLA. Cat Osterman will be making an appearance in her hometown as the team faces the University of Houston on April 8 in Houston, Texas. The Red, White and Blue have put together a 17-1 record so far on the Bound 4 Beijing Tour with its last game a 1-0 loss to Virginia Tech. Angela Tincher threw a no-hit performance to give the team its first pre-Olympic exhibition tour loss since 1996. However the team has dominated on the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour outscoring opponents, 174-4, while the pitching staff has allowed only 30 hits in a combine 119.0 innings pitched. Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.) leads the team with 29 RBI, while holding a team-high eight doubles, 31 hits and runs scored with 24. Osterman (4-0) leads from the circle with 10 appearances and 64 strikeouts. The complete schedule for this stint of the Tour is as follows: Date Location Time/Local Opponent Ticket Info April 6 Las Cruces, N.M. 2:00 p.m. New Mexico State Go to www.zianet.com/nmasa or email tourticket26@yahoo.com to purchase tickets! April 8 Houston, Texas 7:00 p.m. University of Houston For ticket information go to www.houstonasa.org April 10 Greensboro, N.C. 7:00 p.m. UNCG SOLD OUT April 12 Knoxville, Tenn. 3:00 p.m. University of Tennessee April 13 Johnson City, Tenn. 2:00 p.m. TBD SOLD OUT April 15 Birmingham, Ala. 6:00 p.m. University of Alabama Click here for tickets! April 17 Ridgeland, Miss. 7:00 p.m. Mississippi State Click here for tickets! April 19 Sulphur, La. 6:00 p.m. University of Louisiana at Lafayette SOLD OUT April 22 Los Angeles, Calif. 6:00 p.m. UCLA Buy Tickets Here! Please be sure to check out www.usasoftball.com for complete coverage of these events including blogs, recaps and live stats of all games. 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 240,000 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/.