Bryant Invited to U.S. National Team Camp
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) announced Tuesday that University of Oregon junior Neena Bryant was among 10 additional athletes who accepted invitations to the 2009 USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp next month.
The 37-person camp will be held at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., June 8-12, and will be used to help determine squads for various major events, including the World Cup of Softball presented by KFC in Oklahoma City, Okla. July 16-20. The World Cup will feature the top four finishers from the 2008 Olympic Games including a gold-medal game rematch between Japan and the United States.
Other athletes added Tuesday included Ashley Holcombe (Fayetteville, Ga.), Molly Johnson (Tucson, Ariz.), Amanda Kamekona (Chino Hills, Calif.), Megan Langenfield (Bakersfield, Calif.), Nikki Nemitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich), Amber Patton (Forsyth, Ill.), Melissa Roth (Long Beach, Calif.), Taylor Schlopy (West Hills, Calif.) and Maggie Viefhaus (Pacific, Mo.).
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. More information on USA Softball is available at the http://www.usasoftball.com website.
In the 2007 Junior World Championships held in the Netherlands, the Placentia, Calif., native Bryant played on the gold-medal U.S. squad the summer after her freshman season. She started eight games in the tourney for the unbeaten American squad (10-0), and she ranked third on the team in RBI’s (8) and slugging (.714).
After the '09 season ended two weekends ago, Bryant picked up several honors, including NFCA All-Region and All-Pac-10 Second Team recognition last week. She was also an All-Pac-10 Second Team pick in ’08 and honorable mention in ’07.
She was also tabbed the team’s Offensive MVP for the second straight season after she ended the 50-game slate as the Ducks' season leader in batting (.314), hits (49), home runs (8 - tied), slugging (.538), multiple-hit games (13), longest hitting streak (9), on-base percentage (.345) and stolen bases (27) - and the latter was the sixth-most in a season all-time for UO.
Career-wise, she ranks fourth all-time for UO in stolen bases (64), fifth all-time in home runs (28) and sixth in RBIs (120).
Among other season stat rankings this week, Bryant’s ’09 stolen base mark (0.54 per game average) ranked 28th nationally and fourth in the Pac-10.
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