Three Softballers Get USA Invite

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball announced Tuesday the 40 athletes that will participate in the 2005 Women's National Team Camp, Jan. 3-7, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. Three Sooners - Seniors Heather Scaglione and Kami Keiter and sophomore Norrelle Dickson - were among the invitees.

The trio of Sooners competed with the USA Elite Team during the First World University Championships in Plant City, Fla. this past fall. Each OU athlete played an instrumental role as the Red, White and Blue claimed the gold medal. The three OU players make up 75 percent of the Big 12 student-athletes invited. The fourth Big 12 invitee is 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Cat Osterman.

An 18-member national team will be selected from this camp to represent the United States June 5-12 in Seattle, WA at the Pacific Rim Sports Summit. A second selection camp will be held June 12-17 to choose the 2005 USA Softball National and Elite teams who will compete in the remainder of the year's international events.

The following is a complete breakdown of the training camp participants by state with their college listed in parenthesis (* are players that have college eligibility):

ARIZONA
Caitlin Benyi (Scottsdale, AZ, UCLA*)
Tairia Flowers (Tucson, AZ, UCLA)
Catalina Morris (Sonoita, AZ, Stanford*)
Emily Zaplatosch (Scottsdale, AZ, UCLA*)

CALIFORNIA
Monica Abbott (Salinas, CA, Tennessee*)
Laura Berg (Santa Fe Springs, CA, Fresno State)
Jaime Clark (Tustin, CA, Washington)
Norrelle Dickson (Orange, CA, Oklahoma*)
Lisa Dodd (San Diego, CA, UCLA*)
Andrea Duran (Selma, CA, UCLA*)
Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, CA, UCLA)
Jennie Finch (La Mirada, CA, Arizona)
Kristie Fox (San Diego, CA, Arizona*)
Amanda Freed (Cypress, CA, UCLA)
Vicky Galindo (Union City, CA, California-Berkeley*)
Nicole Giordano (Saugus, CA, Arizona)
Alicia Hollowell (Suisun, CA, Arizona*)
Lovieanne Jung (Fountain Valley, CA, Arizona)
Lauren Lappin (Anaheim, CA, Stanford*)
Jodie Legaspi (Garden Grove, CA, UCLA*)
Carri Leto (El Cajon, CA, Northwestern)
Nina Lindenberg (Anaheim Hills, CA, Fresno State)
Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, CA, Arizona*)
Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, CA, Stanford)
Stacey Nuveman (La Verne, CA, UCLA)
Heather Scaglione (San Diego, CA, Oklahoma*)
Dana Sorensen (San Diego, CA, Stanford)
Jamie Southern (Clovis, CA, Fresno State*)
Jenny Topping (Whittier, CA, Cal State Fullerton)
Natasha Watley (Irvine, CA, UCLA)

COLORADO
Kami Keiter (Arvada, CO, Oklahoma*)

FLORIDA
Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, FL, Alabama)
Kellie Wilkerson (Jacksonville, FL, Mississippi State)

ILLINOIS
Amy Harre (Nashville, IL, Southern Illinois at Carbondale*)

NEVADA
Jackie Rinehart (Reno, NV, Stanford*)

TEXAS
Jessica Allister (Nacogdoches, TX, Stanford)
Iyhia McMichael (Nacogdoches, TX, Mississippi State)
Brooke Mitchell (Pasadena, TX, Louisiana Lafayette*)
Cat Osterman (Houston, TX, Texas*)

WEST VIRGINIA
Leigh Ann Ellis (Barboursville, WV, South Florida)

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 89 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams and 40,000 umpires today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit 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 medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven World Championship titles including the last five consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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