International Women’s Baseball Returns to Phoenix

2006 marks the 2nd World Cup of Women’s Baseball, to be played in Taipei, Taiwan this Aug. 1st - 6th. Team USA won the gold in the 2004 World Cup, held in Edmonton, AB.

Phoenix will host 1 of the 3 national tryouts the weekend of June 17th & 18th. Women ballplayers (age 16 & over) from all over the country will converge on Municipal Stadium in an attempt to become invited to the final selection process. Additional tryouts will be in Jupiter, Florida & Elizabethtown, NJ. Those selected will attend the final selection tryouts, also to be held at Municipal Stadium July 22nd-28th. An exhibition game between Team Canada & Team USA has tentatively been scheduled on Wednesday, July 26th.

“This is an exciting time for women’s baseball,” said Richard Hopkins, president & general manager of the Arizona Cactus Wrens Women’s Baseball Club, Arizona’s original & only all-women’s baseball team,“ & for the Phoenix area. This is a great opportunity for girls & women in our area to get involved.”

The Cactus Wrens are currently looking for both women & girl’s who want to play baseball. Girls 13 & under are sought for a traveling team, which includes the national tournament at Disneyworld in October. Players 14 & over are sought for the women’s team.

The Cactus Wrens hope to resurrect their local league that played in the mid-90’s with several teams. Phoenix also had a team in the defunct women’s professional baseball league in 1997 & 1998. Hopkins has worked tirelessly since 1994 promoting women’s & girls baseball across the world. The Cactus Wrens played in the very 1st international women’s baseball games in 1997, with 5 US teams & 2 Australian teams in the field in Southern California. In 2002 he was selected as 1 of 2 coaches from the USA to participate in the National Girls-N-Sports Day festivities at Disneyworld, introducing baseball to the event for the 1st time, & sat on the founding committee meeting at the AAU organizing women’s & girls baseball as an official sport. In 2004 he was the only coach from the US to participate in the inaugural girls & women’s baseball instructional clinic in Aberdeen, Maryland.