Paige Halstead, a 2015 graduate from Los Osos High of Rancho Cucamonga, is with Team USA’s junior national squad all week in Irvine, Calif., competing in the World Cup of Softball X.

The UCLA-signee is ranked No. 10 on FloSoftball’s Hot 100 list. She batted .568 with 36 RBI and led her high school team to its third consecutive Baseline League title in her senior season. She is considered one of the top defensive catchers in the nation.

Halstead, who played club ball with the Explosion (Calif.), will be blogging about her experiences at the World Cup for flosoftball.com.

Today we had a full schedule!

We ate breakfast and went straight to getting our work in! We had practice in the morning which was really nice. I think we all like to get some work in before a game just so it keeps us fresh and focused before the real game! We have great coaches and teammates that surround us, so it’s an honor to be in this atmosphere every day.

Today we played Canada. Unfortunately we lost, but it is so awesome to get this opportunity to play these teams! We went out there and competed today, but sometimes it doesn’t go your way. Canada is a great team with so much talent and it was an honor to play them tonight!

I know all of us are so grateful to be out on this field playing with USA across our jerseys, and I know we are all soaking in all of the coaching and teammates that we are able to be coached by and play side-by-side! It is such an honor to play for the JWNT!

Come out to our game tomorrow! We play the Women’s National USA team at 7 (at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif.)!!

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