Bures Invited To USA Softball World University Games Selection Camp
May 25, 2016 | Softball
The honor marks the second such invitation for Bures who attended last year's national team camp at the same facility. With that invitation, she became the fifth Mississippi State player to participate in a national team camp, joining a list of former MSU all-Americans that includes Kellie 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.
The invitations follow the February announcement of Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller's selection as one of 15 coaches named to the USA Softball national team coaching staff. Miller, who is entering his 15th year with the USA Softball organization, will serve a head coaching assignment for the USA Junior Women's National Team, including skippering the squad in its 2006 Qualifier in November, as well as the 2007 World Championship. Miller will also head up the selection camp for the squad, to be held Sept. 15-17 in Chula Vista.
This is a great opportunity for Courtney and a great honor for her and our softball program at Mississippi State, Miller said. The World University games team is probably going to be made up of, really, all college-aged players. They will play this summer, as well as next summer. This also gives her another outstanding chance to get involved with USA Softball and, hopefully, the Olympic team down the road.
Bures has played and started in all 127 games of her Mississippi State career, maintaining a .369 (143-for-388) career average with 58 extra-base hits (22 HR), 91 RBI and 78 runs scored. She has also drawn 27 walks, been hit by pitch 10 times and has successfully swiped 33 stolen bases on 44 attempts. Her .660 career slugging percentage and .417 career on-base percentage currently rank second and fifth, respectively, on MSU's career listings.
USA Softball Women's National Teams have been among the most dominating of any sports team in history. The USA's ability to bring home the gold in World Championships, the Pan American Games and the Olympics is unchallenged, with a total of sixteen.
The USA Softball Women's National Team won the first Olympic gold medal in the sport's history during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA, and defended its gold medal both at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The USA Softball Women's National Team, which has won the past five consecutive World Championships, the past five consecutive Pan Am Games and the past three Olympic gold medals, has been the undisputed No. 1 team in the world for the past 20 years.
The ASA, 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 87 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 230,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
