Olympics help to inspire White Sox

The White Sox are expecting this week’s world women’s softball championships to be the toughest in years with Olympic Games qualifying berths at stake and oppressive heat to handle in Japan.

The 16th World Baseball Softball Confederation championships get into full swing in Japan today.

White Sox catcher Melanie Gettins expects this to be the toughest of the five world tournaments she has attended since 2010. She said a lot of the nations had raised the ante since learning softball was back on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games schedule after being mothballed for the past two Olympiads.

‘‘When you look at the seedings, our section is a very solid section. Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Mexico are putting a lot more into programmes than they did five or six years ago. That’s the allure of the Olympics.’’

Most softball insiders expect Japan and the United States to fight it out for the gold medal at the world championships in the Chiba prefecture.

But White Sox head coach Kevin Gettins said there was a general feeling that any of the teams ranked third to 12th in the world – could ‘‘beat each other on any given day’’.

WBSC world rankings can be a little misleading because they take into account senior and junior international performances.

The White Sox finished eighth at the last two world championships, but are now ranked 11th.

Their section includes the United States (ranked 1st in the world), Chinese Taipei (5th), Central and South American champions Puerto Rico (6th), Mexico (7th), the Netherlands (8th), the Philippines (15th) and South Africa (35th).

Puerto Rico and Mexico have boosted their squads by signing players from the strong American college softball system.

Catcher Gettins believes this White Sox squad is ‘‘the best I’ve played on, handsdown’’.

‘‘The vibe about it is so different. When you look at our hitting order it’s solid all the way through, and we’ve got good hitters on the bench.’’

Gettins and fellow catcher Kyla Bromhead will guide a five-prong pitching staff with Courtney Gettins, Jennifer Feret-Brear, Rita Hokianga and Taylor Paige-Stewart backing up from the 2016 team and joined by newcomer Nyree White.

Feret-Brear said it was evident everyone has come back in top form, and through the help of White Sox management, had collectively tapped into another level. ‘‘This team has the potential to do great things.’’

Unlike the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico, the White Sox do not have a proven pitching ace.

Gettins said they would regularly rotate their hurlers to keep opposition hitters off their stride. He thought it unlikely that any pitcher would ‘‘throw a full seven innings’’.

Pitching coach Mike Roberts – head coach at New York State’s University of Buffalo – will have a vital role to play in handling the pitching changes.

With captain Ellie Cooper, the experienced Lara Andrews, Feret-Brear, White, Hailey Breakwell, Mikayla Werahiko, Mereana Makea and rookie Pallas Potter in the lineup, the White Sox have the hitters to score runs against most opponents.

But Gettins acknowledged tight fielding would be critical.

‘‘We have to pride ourselves on our defence and cutting down our walks. We have to be on top of our game defensively.’’

The White Sox made five errors in losing to Italy 5-1 in their final warmup game after beating them 4-3 in the first leg of the doubleheader.

Japan is in the middle of one of its hottest summers on record and the White Sox had to contend with temperatures up to 42 degrees with high humidity at training on Wednesday.

Their first three games start at 6pm (Japanese time), but the temperature was still 32 degrees at 9.30pm on Wednesday.

Gettins said the White Sox were coping well with the heat with plenty of hydration and breaks.