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.

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 played Argentina!

We pretty much had the whole day to spend time with our teammates until 2:30 when we had to leave!

This whole experience is unbelievable! I know we all enjoy getting to play for something bigger than ourselves! It is such an honor and great time getting to know everybody here at Irvine!

There are so many great people and coaches!

And I know we had a great time with our walk-up songs for the first time! We were all really excited for that moment we stepped out on the field and got to play with USA on our jerseys! That is the best feeling in the world!

(Editor’s note: Team USA beat Argentina, 14-0, in four innings)

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