(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
      Professional USSSA Pride to make European Tour; 3x vs. Netherlands
Nederlands
 ANTWERP (Belgium) -
USSSA Pride, one of the leading teams from the professional American National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), will make a tour to Europe, starting next month, playing games in three countries and closing with a clinic in a fourth country.
The tour is a joint effort by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and the United States Specialty Sport Association (USSSA), the WBSC announced on Tuesday (March 13).
During the tour, which had been named USSSA European Pro Series presented by WBSC, the American squad will play against the National Teams of the top-three European countries, being the Netherlands, Italy and the Czech Republic.
The goal of the tour is to promote women's softball internationally.
It is the goal of the WBSC to include softball and baseball on the Olympic Program for the 2024 Olympic Games, which then will be held in French capital Paris.
Softball and baseball will be part of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan).
The European Pro Series opens in the Italian city of Caronno (near Milan), where USSSA Pride will play against Italy on April 24 and 25.
The American squad then travels to Czech capital Prague where it will play against the Czech Republic on April 27 and 28.
Hereafter, the professional team comes to the Netherlands where it will play three games against the reigning European Champion.
USSSA Pride first meets the Netherlands on Monday, April 30 in Haarlem.
Hereafter, the teams play again the next day (May 1) in Hoofddorp.
The third game will be played on May 2 in Moergestel.
The NPF-team then concludes its tour on May 4 with a clinic at the Softball Academy of France in Boulouris at the Côte d'Azur.
Hereafter, the team travels to Paris, then returns home on May 6 and will start the new NPF-season.
The team of USSSA Pride also will be involved in promotional activities in the countries it is visiting.
More details regarding these activities will be announced later.
,,A U.S. professional softball club competing against Europe’s top nations promises to deliver exciting and unique content'', stated WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari in a press release.
,,As baseball and softball continue to grow into a global product and toward one billion players and fans, we will see more and more of these types of competitions, particularly ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games, and throughout the next decade.''
,,The opportunity to compete in the USSSA European Pro Softball Series Presented by WBSC is truly exciting for the Pride'', added D.J. Wabick, USSSA International Senior Vice President in the same press release.
,,With softball back at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the WBSC has provided the largest international platform to showcase our sport, and for the Pride and their professional players to be able to be a part of that, be a part of the push for Tokyo 2020 and beyond, is an honour.
As a professional team, and more importantly as fans ourselves, we know the importance of our sport being back into the Olympics and are truly humbled to be part of the WBSC’s continued growth as the global brand for baseball and softball.''
(March 13)
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