Just two years away from the 2020 Olympic Games, the potential field has begun to take shape for the sport’s return to the Olympic slate.
After being removed from the Olympic roster following the 2008 Games, softball will return to the Olympics in Tokyo for 2020. Host country Japan along with the United States, both perennial powerhouses in the sport on the international front, are heavy favorites to compete for the gold medal. The field of competition behind the pair of nations remains something of a race between several countries to earn the right to compete for a position on the medal stand.
The Puerto Rican national program has not appeared on the Olympic softball field since the turn of the century, missing the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Games after finishing in a tie for last place among eight teams in the 1996 Games in Columbus, Georgia. As the international season rolls through this summer, the Puerto Ricans are poised and ready for what seems to be their best chance at making the Olympics since the ‘96 appearance.
Ten members of the Puerto Rican roster competed at the Women’s College World Series, competing for a national championship and on the game’s highest level earlier in June. Four members of the Florida State Seminoles, who took home that very championship, went from garnet and gold in Oklahoma City to the blue, white, and red of Puerto Rico’s national team.
World Series star Meghan King is one of several high-profile names in the collegiate game that is spending her summer competing for Puerto Rico. A member of the squad since 2015, she is part of the team’s pitching staff that also includes Washington’s Taran Alvelo and Arizona State’s Giselle “G” Juarez. Competitors on the World Series stage in early June, just a few weeks later, the trio donned the same jersey to compete side-by-side.
Other World Series participants competing under the Puerto Rican flag once their collegiate seasons end include Florida State clutch slugger Carsyn Gordon; California breakout star pitcher Kamalani Dung; former Marshall great Elicia D’Orazio; and standout pitcher and utility player Aleshia Ocasio, now a Florida Gators graduate.
The Puerto Rican squad sits undefeated at the World Championships in Japan as of this writing, successfully navigating the early goings of the tournament and playing some excellent softball. Playing for the country of one’s heritage and fighting for an Olympic spot is not without its challenges, however.
Despite representing the nation’s colors, the Puerto Rican softball team is only marginally supported with government funds. They rely on fundraising endeavors and other acquired support to fund their travel and other expenses. According to one source inside the team, players and parents of players have put money into the team to fund basic expenses.
In contrast to other growing international softball programs – including the national teams from Ireland, Great Britain, and others – online information about team Puerto Rico is minimal, which seriously affects attempts to build the team’s fanbase and international support.
“We have nothing about nothing online,” said one member of the Puerto Rican coaching staff. “We do not have a website to show our history, calendar, player profiles, for merchandise sales, nothing.”
Despite the national team’s minimal online footprint, the program’s popularity is growing. Thanks in no small part to the “rising star” status of several of the team’s members, team Puerto Rico is slowly gaining a fanbase as well as more notoriety on the national stage; the squad pulled in the #6 ranking in the latest edition of the WBSC World Rankings.
As the World Championships continue, further Olympic qualifiers sit on the horizon and teams are beginning to officially jockey for a spot in the Tokyo field, keep an eye on the little island in the Caribbean. With a roster full of talent and a prime opportunity to play the underdog role to success, team Puerto Rico could be poised and ready to shock the world.
Image via @pursoftball/Twitter
