Bures, Wilkerson Invited To USA Softball National Team Camp
May 25, 2016 | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Mississippi State freshman infielder Courtney Bures, as well as former Bulldog all-American Kellie Wilkerson, were among 32 athletes on the initial invitee list for the 2005 USA Women's National Team Selection Camp released Tuesday afternoon by the Amateur Softball Association.
Bures becomes the fifth Mississippi State player to participate in a national team camp, joining a list of former MSU all-Americans that includes Wilkerson (1999-02), Iyhia McMichael (2001-04) and Keri McCallum (1997-00). McCallum and teammate Michelle Gates (1997-00) were both invited to the camp following the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
Bures was one of 50 players nationwide invited to participate in USA Junior World National Team tryouts last summer. Wilkerson has been a member of five USA National teams, including the Junior World squad as a following the completion of her prep career in 2000.
The camp, which will be staffed by MSU head coach Jay Miller, will be held June 13-17 at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The Women's Selection Committee will announce the remaining athletes invited to the selection camp on May 18.
An 18-member national team and 16-member elite team will be selected from this camp to represent the United States in the various international events in 2005. The National team will participate in an exhibition versus Australia on July 12 in Irvine, Calif., the World Cup of Softball July 14-18 in Oklahoma City, and the Japan Cup July 16- August 5 in Yokohama, Japan. The Elite team will participate in the Canada Cup June 29-July 11 in Surrey, B.C., and the Inter-Continental Spain Cup July 20-July 28 in Madrid, Spain.
"This is a tremendous honor, not only for our program, but also for Mississippi State University and the Southeastern Conference," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "Courtney is just an outstanding young talent and, I think, she is going to be our next all-American here. She works hard for everything she gets and is very deserving of this invitation."
A Haymarket, Va., and Stonewall Jackson High School product, Bures currently leads every offensive statistical category for the Bulldogs this season, including batting average (.428), home runs (17) and RBI (53). Having begun a torrid pace with four home runs in her first official weekend as a collegiate athlete, Bures is within one home run of matching MSU's single season record currently held by McMichael. Earlier this season, she shattered Wilkerson's six-year-old freshman home run record with her 14th four-bagger of the season against Florida.
A .429 career hitter with the Bulldogs from 1999-02, Wilkerson still holds down a handful of MSU offensive and pitching career records, while currently ranking first on the NCAA's single season (14 in 2002) and career saves (32) list. She is currently employed at the nationally-renowned Club K Pitching and Catching School in Nashville, Tenn. Wilkerson also helped lead her New York/New Jersey Juggernaut to the inaugural National Pro Faspitch (NPF) Championship in August, pacing the team with a .331 batting clip.
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 89 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams and 40,000 umpires today, representing a membership of more than three million.
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men's, Women's, Junior Boys' and Junior Girls' National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of the only two women's sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven World Championship titles including the last five consecutive.
