What to know ahead of 2024 WBSC World Cup Finals
Softball won’t be featured in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but that doesn’t mean there won’t be high-level international games this summer. The 2024 WBSC World Cup Finals start on Monday, July 15th in Italy.
The eight qualified teams are split into two groups. The first three days will be pool play before moving on to the Super Round, in which the squads from Group A will take on Group B to decide who plays in the Championship and Bronze Medal games.
The United States and Japan have met in the finals of the last eight events (this includes the 2022 World Games and ISF Women’s World Championship before the creation of WBSC). Aside from Japan’s victories in 2012 and 2014, the U.S. has won all those meetings.
Group A Rosters
Rankings based on 5/30/2024 update
Not all rosters have been posted
No. 1 USA (Best Finish: 1st – Multiple Times – Last: 2022)
The Americans have a nice blend of veterans and youth. Haylie McCleney and Ally Carda headline their respective sides. Recent graduates Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings, and Maya Brady help bolster the USA team looking to bring home another Gold Medal.
No. 5 Canada (Best Finish: 3rd – Multiple Times – Last: 2018)
Canada’s roster includes Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bronze medallists Larissa Franklin, Sarah Groenewegen, Kelsey Harshmann, Janet Leung, Erika Polidori and Natalie Wideman. Dawn Bodrug and CC Wong are other names to watch.
No. 6 Italy (Best Finish: 5th – 1990)
Erika Piancastelli and Andrea Filler headline the roster looking to medal for the first time. Bella Dayton and Mac Barbara are also familiar names to watch.
No. 15 China (Best Finish: 2nd – Multiple Times – Last: 1994)
China returns most of its roster that helped qualify them last season in Spain, where they beat the Netherlands and Puerto Rico. They are looking to get back to their success of decades ago when they took home Olympic Silver in 1996.
Group B Rosters
No. 2 Puerto Rico (Best Finish: 5th – Multiple Times – Last: 2022)
Puerto Rico appears poised for its best finish at a World Championship. Despite not having Aminah Vega at shortstop, there is plenty of talent including Aleshia Ocasio on both sides.
No. 3 Japan (Best Finish: 1st – Multiple Times – Last: 2014)
Japan recently swept the USA Elite team earlier this month, outscoring them a combined 18-7. The Japanese pitching is always elite and makes for a lot of low-scoring games.
No. 8 Netherlands (Best Finish: 4th – 2016)
Netherlands has a heavy-lefty lineup and a fun group leading into the World Cup. They fell to Puerto Rico in the warm-up event in Italy but collected wins over China and Australia.
No. 10 Australia (Best Finish: 1st – 1965)
Clare Warwick who captained the team in last year’s World Cup Group Stage to qualify, where she posted a .333BA and an error-free performance in the infield. Fellow Olympians Jade Wall, Michelle Cox, Stacey McManus, catcher Taylah Tsitsikronis, along with pitching duo Kaia Parnaby and Ellen Roberts.
Schedule
The graphic below details the entire schedule. All times are listed in CET, which is six hours ahead of ET. For example, USA will face Canada at 10:30 ET a.m. on Monday.
The full event will be live streamed on GameTime ($).
