The 2016 USA Softball Women's National Team Selection Camp is January 2-8 in Irvine, California and we’re going to be there on the ground, giving you inside
Dec 24, 2015 by Sarah Hoffman
The 2016 USA Softball Women's National Team Selection Camp is January 2-8 in Irvine, California and we’re going to be there on the ground, giving you insider access to the whole week.
Anticipating who will make the cut in 2016, we’re throwing it back twenty years to the inaugural softball Olympic team who won gold in Atlanta. We found this gem of the team on the Today Show following their win.
1996 Olympic Gold Medal Team Then
1996 Olympic Gold Medal Team Now
Laura Berg was a four-time All American at Fresno State from 1994-1998. She is the only player to have ever won four Olympic medals in softball. Currently, she is the head coach of the Oregon State Beavers, a position she has held since July of 2013.
Gillian Boxx was a four-time All-American at the University of California Berkeley from 1992-1995. Her softball career ended in 1998 with a gold medal at the ISF World Championships. Winning is in the Boxx bloodline; Gillian’s younger sister Shannon was a midfielder for the US Women’s National Soccer Team from 2003-2015, winning three gold medals and one World Cup. Currently, Gillian is a firefighter for SJFD.
Sheila Cornell is a UCLA graduate and member of both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Gold medal teams.
Lisa Fernandez was a four-time first team All-American at UCLA where she won two national championships and three Honda Awards. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and in the 1996 Olympic Games, she posted a staggering .33 ERA. She is considered to be one of the best female athletes of any sport and was included in espnW’s all-time best female athlete bracket of 32 athletes. She is currently an assistant coach at her alma matter UCLA.
Michele Granger was a standout pitcher at the University of California Berkeley from 1989-1993. She still holds school records in shutouts, strikeouts, and innings pitched. She is now a volunteer coach at Sierra College after having spent time with the University of Tennessee coaching staff.
Lori Harrigan was a dominating pitcher at UNLV from 1989-1992 and is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the 1996, 2000, and 2004 teams. In 2014, Harrigan was a contestant on the sixteenth season of The Biggest Loser. She began the competition at 301 pounds and lost 91 pounds before being eliminated.
Photo: NBC
Dionna Harris graduated from Delaware Technical Community College and attended Temple University where she won Temple University Player of the Year in 1990. She led the 1996 Olympic team in batting average (.409).
Kim Maher is an alumnus of Fresno State University. She won one Olympic gold medal with the national team and was the head softball coach at Purdue University from 2006-2013.
Leah O'Brien was an All-American for the Arizona Wildcats from 1993-1997 where she won three WCWS. She was the only college player selected for the 1996 Atlanta games and won three Olympic gold medals during her career. She is still actively involved in the sport as a guest speaker at schools and camps, and occasionally color commentates for ESPN. She was most recently cited at The Natasha Watley Foundation 5k/10k run.
Dr. "Dot" Richardson had a stand-out career at UCLA during the early 1980s. She was a three-time UCLA MVP and helped UCLA win its first of 11 national championships in 1982. She was also awarded the prestigious NCAA Player of the Decade Award (1980s). Following her time at UCLA, she earned her M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1993. She took a leave of absence from her residency to compete in the 1996 Olympics, in which she hit the game-winning home run against China in the gold medal game. She also won a gold medal with the 2000 Olympic team. After retiring in 2000, she served as the Executive Director and Medical Director of the National Training Center. Currently, she is the head coach of the Liberty Flames.
Julie Smith played for Texas A&M and won one gold medal with the Olympic team. She is currently the head coach at the University of La Verne.
Michele Smith was a standout pitcher at Oklahoma State University, finishing her collegiate career with a .75 ERA. She earned two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. Since 1998, she has been the lead softball color analyst for ESPN and in 2012 was the first woman to commentate a Major League Baseball game.
Photo: NBC
Photo: NBC