Softball's Michelle Moultrie Begins Play at Pan American Games with USA Women's National Team Monday
Sunday, October 16, 2011 | Softball
Florida's 2011 Women's College World Series co-Most Outstanding Player Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) will take a break from Gator fall softball to represent the United States at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 17-23 as a member of the United States Women's National Team.
After arriving in Guadalajara on Thursday, Moultrie and the US Women's National Team will begin their quest Monday to bring home the eighth Pan American Games Gold Medal in United States Softball program history when they take the field against Venezuela at 7:00 p.m. ET to kick off the week's competition.
The Florida senior centerfielder started her tenure with the USA Softball WNT over the summer, helping lead Team USA to the 2011 World Cup of Softball VI Championship with a 6-4 victory over Japan July 25 in Oklahoma City, Okla., following a series of exhibition games in various locations throughout the country. In preparation for the Pan American games, the WNT played a week of exhibition games in Texas last week before heading to Mexico, chalking up three wins against Texas A&M University and the University of Houston.
Following its Gold Medal finish at World Cup of Softball VI, the fifth straight World Cup title for the Americans, Team USA will look to add to its seven Pan American Championships (1979, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007), including the last six. The program has a record of 78-3 since softball debuted in the 1979 Pan American Games.
One of UF's nation-leading six All-Americans last season, Moultrie helped propel Florida to a fourth consecutive WCWS appearance – the first SEC team to accomplish the feat. Florida (56-13) played for a national championship for the second time in the last three years as Moultrie turned in a WCWS tournament-high 13 hits and four home runs in UF's efforts, earning WCWS All-Tournament Team Honors as the co-Most Outstanding Player.
Moultrie rallied for single-season batting clip and on-base percentage Florida records last spring, registering a .443 batting average and .519 on-base mark, while additionally shattering the Florida single-season hits standard, with 101 her junior season. The speedster also tallied a school-record 31 of 34 stolen bases.
After opening with Venezuela on Oct. 17, Team USA has doubleheaders the next two days, facing the Dominican Republic (noon ET) and Mexico (9 p.m. ET) Oct. 18 and Cuba (2 p.m. ET) and Puerto Rico (5 p.m. ET) on Oct. 19. On Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. (ET), the team faces Canada, the 2011 World Cup of Softball Bronze Medalists, and finishes pool play against Argentina on Oct. 21 at 5:00 p.m. (ET). The playoffs are Oct. 22 with the medal round scheduled for Oct. 23. Schedule is subject to change.
Live stats will be available via www.usasoftball.com. Click on the events page for Pan American Games and then proceed to the schedule tab. Any video streaming information will be updated in this release on www.GatorZone.com/softball when available from USA Softball. For pictures of the team's time in Mexico, head to ASA/USA Softball's Facebook page HERE. For updates on Twitter, follow Moultrie and the Women's National Team @ASAUSASoftball, with re-tweets @GatorZoneSBall. Visit the official website for the Pan American Games HERE.
Moultrie won't be the only Gator representing the Red, White and Blue during the softball offseason as sophomore Cheyenne Coyle (West Hills, Calif.) and freshmen Jessica Damico (Gray Summit, Mo.) and Lauren Haeger (Phoenix, Ariz.) – all members of the USA Softball Junior Women's National Team – will head to the International Softball Federation (ISF) IX Junior Women's World Championship (19-and-under), set for December 6-17 in Cape Town, South Africa.
2011 USA Softball Women's National Team Competing in Guadalajara at Pan American Games
Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif./California senior)
Whitney Canion (Aledo, Texas/Baylor junior)
Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda Calif./Arizona State 2009)
Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md./Tennessee junior)
Kelly Grieve (Asheville, N.C./Tennessee 2011)
Taylor Hoagland (Flower Mound, Texas/Texas junior)
Ashley Holcombe (Fayetteville, Ga./Alabama 2009)
Molly Johnson (Tucson, Ariz./Kentucky 2010)
Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nev./Iowa 2006)
Jenae Leles (Sacramento, Calif./Arizona 2009)
Meagan May (Spring, Texas/Texas A&M junior)
Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla./Florida senior)
Christi Orgeron (New Orleans, La./ULL junior)
Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif./Oklahoma junior)
Jordan Taylor (Valencia, Calif./Michigan 2011)
Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga./Missouri 2011)
Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa/Missouri junior)
