OKLAHOMA CITY – USA Softball released its list of 41 national team selection camp invitees Tuesday and four-year Alabama All-Americans Haylie McCleney and Kelly Kretschman will have the opportunity to earn a spot on the 2019 Team USA roster.
The selection camp will be held January 1-6, 2019 in Clearwater, Fla. The invitees will be vying for 18 spots on the 2019 USA Softball women’s national training team that will compete at the USA Softball International Cup, among other international events. That group will be trimmed to 15 to compete in the Pan American Games July 31 – Aug. 11 in Peru.
McCleney, a 2016 UA graduate, has been a mainstay on the Team USA roster since 2014 after playing on the Junior National Team in 2013. Last summer, the Morris, Ala., native led Team USA’s offense to a World Baseball Softball Confederation World Championship title in Japan, where Team USA earned a bid to the 2020 Olympics. Over the team’s run of 10 undefeated games, she hit 13-for-26 (.500), scoring a run in all but one game and earning a hit in eight of the 10.
Kretschman, the Tide’s first four-time All-American, was part of Team USA in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, earning a gold medal in the latter. This past summer, she competed with Team USA’s Blue squad at the USA Softball International Cup, securing a third-place finish. The 2001 UA graduate led the USA Blue offense, going 10-for-16 (.625) over seven games with nine runs scored and six walks.
