Team USA Hopefuls Showcase Their Skills at Fast Pitch Camp

Bailey Vannoy’s dream when she committed to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was to lift the program to a level it had never achieved before. She did that this past season by helping the Niners reach the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Although she graduated, Vannoy is still trying to elevate the brand. Vannoy is one of 28 current and former college players participating in the U.S. Women’s Fast Pitch Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla.

“It’s really cool that I am not only going to be at the tryout, but I get to represent Charlotte while doing it,” Vannoy said. “It is going to be a little weird for me to be wearing red, white and blue. I will no longer be in Charlotte colors. But whatever happens, I am just going to have a lot of fun in the process and just make our program known and get it on the map and on the radar like some of the higher Division I programs.”

Players attending the two-day camp will have the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of the USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Committee, which will be selecting two 2023 U.S. Women’s National Team rosters – one to compete at the Japan All-Star Series in August and one for the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile in November.

The Japan All-Star Series will feature a full roster of current college players while the Pan American Games roster will have players from the collegiate and professional levels. Each roster will be selected based on camp performances, as well as previous and ongoing evaluations of players.

The camp invitees are representing 19 NCAA Division I universities from seven athletic conferences: SEC (7), Big 12 (7), Pac-12 (6), ACC (5), AAC (1) and Conference USA (1).

The coaching staff at the camp consists of Heather Tarr (Washington), Cindy Ball-Malone (UCF), Amber Freeman (Cal), Michele Granger (Cal Poly), Jason Gwyn (North Texas), Jimmy Kolatis (Arizona State), Mike Roberts (Virginia) and Mike Steuerwald (Gaston College).