Texas Ex Taylor Hoagland Named to USA Softball Women’s National Team World Championship Roster

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Following a selection camp and series of exhibition games, former Texas Softball standout Taylor Hoagland (2010-2013) has earned a spot on the 2014 USA Softball Women’s National Team that will compete in a number of events this summer highlighted by the International Softball Federation (ISF) Women’s World Championship, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced Sunday. Hoagland makes her third appearance on the squad after earning a spot in 2011 and 2013.

The 17-person roster will regroup next month for an exhibition game in Morgantown, W. Va. before traveling to Irvine, Calif. for the General Tire World Cup of Softball July 7-13.

Texas has had at least one current or former Longhorn on the USA National Team in 18 of the last 19 years.

Hoagland was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First-Team All-America selection and an NFCA All-Central Region and All-Big 12 First-Team honoree as a senior in 2013, leading Texas to the Women’s College World Series semifinals. The Flower Mound, Texas, native ended her career at UT as a four-time all-league and all-region honoree. Hoagland, who is considered one of the most productive offensive players in program history, stands as UT's all-time leader in home runs (58), runs scored (221), walks (178), slugging percentage (.708) and on-base percentage (.501) while ranking second in batting average (.365) and stolen bases (88) and third in and third in runs batted in (149).

Click here for the complete 2014 USA Softball Women’s National Team roster

In preparation for the ISF Women’s World Championships, August 15-24, 2014 in Haarlem, Netherlands, the 2014 Women’s National Team will compete in exhibition games as well as three tournaments that include the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX in Irvine, Calif July 7-13, the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada July 15-21 and Italian Softball Week in Azzano, Italy August 6-10. Their complete schedule, including exhibition game dates and locations can be found here.

Click here for more information on the General Tire World Cup of Softball

Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla./Head Coach at USF) will lead the National Team and will be assisted by three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Laura Berg (Corvalis, Ore./head coach Oregon State) as well as Howard Dobson (Orange, Texas/assistant coach at LSU) and Lisa Dodd (San Diego, Calif./head coach at UNLV) throughout the summer events.

Visit www.usasoftball.com all summer for the most up to date coverage of all USA Softball National Teams.

About ISF

Headquartered in Plant City, Florida (USA), the ISF is a member of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for the sport  which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and SportAccord (formerly the General Association of International Sports Federations). Softball (women’s fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 127 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.

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 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 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 nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com.