Four MSU softball players will be on an all-Michigan collegiate team scheduled to play a Japanese national championship team August 9.
Sophomore pitcher Jessica Beech, junior outfielder Sandra Lewis and junior infielders Robyn Golden and Margaret Schick will represent the Spartans in the exhibition.
The game, which is free, will be held at the Spring Arbor University field in Spring Arbor, near Jackson, at 4:30 p.m.
Beech led the team with a 2.54 earned run average, while compiling an 8-8 record for MSU last season, while Schick stole a team-best 14 bases.
Schick said she has never been involved in international competition before and is excited for the game.
“It’s definitely going to be a great experience,” Schick said. “A bunch of us are going to go out there and have a good time and maybe get our butts kicked.”
Schick said she’s looking forward to playing with her three teammates again, as well as meeting the other athletes on the Michigan team.
The 17-member collegiate squad also includes players from Central Michigan, Michigan and host Spring Arbor.
The 2000 All-Japan team, TICO, includes two-time U.S. Olympian Michele Smith, who has lived in Japan for a few years, and Japanese silver medalists Juri Takayama and Emi Naitoh.
Women’s track
Angela Goodman, MSU women’s track and field head coach, was announced Monday as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team at the 2001 World University Games.
The games, which will be held in Beijing, run from August 27 through September 1.
The college athletes on Goodman’s team qualified for the games earlier this summer at the USA Championships in Eugene, Ore. Goodman was selected to coach the team at the USA Track and Field Convention last December.
Goodman is beginning her fourth year as both the director of the MSU women’s cross country team and head coach of the track and field team.
This won’t be Goodman’s first international experience as a coach when she departs for the games August 18. She served as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team at the 1997 World Outdoor Championships in Athens, Greece.
