SPRINGFIELD, MO. ? Four former Drake softball players will join a team of Midwest All-Stars to battle Team USA in a 7:30 p.m. contest Friday in Springfield, Mo.
Drake players Marilyn Buss (West Des Moines, Iowa), Jaci Faidley (Colfax, Iowa), Kristin Birocci (Des Moines, Iowa) and Susan Slycord (Des Moines, Iowa) will join all-stars from six Missouri Valley Conference Schools as well as players from Evangel and Arkansas.
The quartet will join 12 MVC All-Conference players in the outing including: former Missouri State players Michelle Armentrout, Shannon Buslepp, Samantha Fleeman,
Katie Martin, Missy Porche , Ashley Bright (Wichita State), Brittany Herald (Evansville), Cynthia Verhulst (Wichita State) and MVC Player of the Year, Lauren Haas (Southern Illinois).
Missouri State head coach Holly Hesse and her coaching staff will lead the ASA Midwest All-Stars against Team USA. The coaching staffs of Drake, Drury, Evangel, Evansville, Southern Illinois and Wichita State will also be on-hand to lend assistance.
Livestats for the event will be available via the USA Softball website.
Since beginning its 62-game pre-Olympic tour in February, Team USA has compiled a 52-1 record against a slate that has included some of the top NCAA Division I programs, regional all-star teams and international squads. Olympic record-holders Lisa Fernandez and Crystl Bustos, as well as superstars Monica Abbott, Jennie Finch, Jessica Mendoza, Stacey Nuveman and Cat Osterman, lead the way for a squad that has hit .432 and scored 599 runs, while limiting its opponents to a .089 batting average and just 26 runs scored in 52 games.
The KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour is a 45-city nationwide pre-Olympic tour, which started in Feb., for the USA Softball Women's National team as it prepares to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Beginning in February, the tour reaches every corner of the country including 23 states while Team USA prepares with 62 total games. The tour consists of five consecutive weekly national televised games on ESPN2 in April and May along with two other bonus games plus four games slated for July that rounds out over 22 hours of original USA Softball branded programming on the ESPN family of networks. Along with the title sponsor, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), other national tour sponsors include Dermabond and Lumber Liquidators.
Team USA will begin its quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal when it begins competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Aug. 12, at Fengtai Softball Field in Beijing, China.
