Four Alabama standouts donned the red, white and blue over the past week for international competition representing USA Softball.
Four-time All-American Haylie McCleney and the USA Women’s National Team played a three-game series against Japan, while rising sophomores Montana Fouts and Skylar Wallace and incoming freshman Alexis Kilfoyl traveled to Paris, with the U-19 National Team for four games at the Achille Challenge before heading to Dublin, Ireland, for a game against the Irish national team.
Wallace started all four games in the Achille Challenge, hitting .364 (4-for-11) with three RBIs and three runs scored. In a lopsided 11-2 victory over the French team, she was named the game’s MVP after a 2-for-3 day at the leadoff spot, including a three-run triple. In a rematch against France to close out the weekend, she went 2-for-4 with a double, a pair of walks and two runs scored. In a contest against Ireland following the Achille Challenge, she smashed a fourth-inning grand slam in the eventual 13-0 victory.
Fouts started in the circle in the Achille Challenge game against Japan, tossing three shutout innings to earn the win, allowing just three hits. She earned her second win of the week in the game against Ireland, going nine-up, nine-down over three innings with seven strikeouts. Kilfoyl tossed four innings as part of a combined shutout over France, fanning four with just one hit and one walk surrendered.
McCleney started all three games in the Japan All-Star Series, rebounding from a 6-4 loss in game one with a 7-2 victory in game two before falling 1-0 in extra innings in the series rubber match Tuesday inside the Tokyo Dome. The Morris, Alabama, native, currently in her sixth season with Team USA, earned a pair of hits and drew a walk across the three-game series.
Both teams return to the United States July 1-7 for the USA Softball International Cup in Columbus, Georgia.
