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Viefhaus, Ritter Set for International Summer Events
6/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- The University of Michigan softball team will have a pair of representatives in upcoming international competition as freshman Maggie Viefhaus (Eureka, Mo./Eureka HS) will suit up for the Junior World Championships in Enschede, Netherlands, and former-Wolverine standout Jennie Ritter was selected to the 2007 USA Women's National Team's 17-player roster for a three-event summer schedule.
Viefhaus
The Junior World Championships kicks off Wednesday (June 20) and will feature 66 total games over a 10-day span. The USA squad earned a berth in the eighth edition of the quadrennial event after it dominated the field at the Pan American Qualifier last November in Puerto Rico. Viefhaus earned all-tournament team honors after pacing the USA's offensive efforts with a .750 batting average, 12 hits, 10 runs scored and 11 RBI.
Sixteen teams make up the 2007 Junior World Championship field. Joining the United States are Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela. The U.S. has advanced to the championship game in each of the last five Junior World tournaments, winning the event in 1987 and 1995.
Ritter -- chosen from a pool of 35 players at the Womens National Team Selection camp -- was the lone first-time addition to the national team roster, which includes numerous gold medalists from the 2006 World Championship and 2004 Olympic teams. A two-year participant of USA Softball's Elite teams, Ritter was one of five pitchers selected to the squad.
The USA kicks off its summer with an appearance at the Canada Cup on June 30-July 8. The team will return stateside for the KFC World Cup of Softball on July 12-16 in Oklahoma City, before wrapping up its summer set the USOC Pan American Games, scheduled for July 23-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ritter will be the third Wolverine player to compete at the Pan-Am Games, joining Vicki Morrow (1984-87) and Patti Benedict (1990-93), who captured gold medals at the 1987 and 1995 events, respectively.
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
