COLLEGE SOFTBALL AN ANCHOR FOR OLYMPIC HOPEFULS
Division I softball is providing a training ground this season for players preparing for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Japan.
UCLA’s Rachel Garcia and Bubba Nickles and Arizona’s Dejah Mulipola are among 18 players fighting for 15 spots on the U.S. squad that will go to Tokyo. Oklahoma’s Nicole Mendes and North Carolina State’s Tatyana Forbes will play for Mexico, their schools said. Washington’s Gabbie Plain is a finalist for a slot on Australia’s team.
During Olympic years, Team USA’s college players who are finalists for the Olympic squad usually travel the country playing with the national team. Garcia, Nickles and Mulipola made a joint decision with Team USA and coach Ken Eriksen to stay with their college teams this year.
Eriksen said the other 15 U.S. hopefuls are not touring this time because of COVID19 has taken opportunities off the table. He said the situation favors college players who get game competition.
“They actually have a bonus factor over the other 15 players in that they’re getting daily training,” Eriksen said of the college players. “They’re getting daily at-bats, they’re getting daily reps. I wish the situation with COVID was different, that the other 15 were getting just as much time.”
Arizona coach Mike Candrea, who coached the gold medal-winning USA squad at the 2004 Games and the team that earned silver in 2008, said annual tour games don’t offer as much of a challenge as the college players find with their schools.
“When we go on tour, we’re playing teams we know we’re going to beat,” he said. “The competition level is not as good as you would like it to be, whereas I think the three college kids are going to have an opportunity to play a very difficult schedule that will prepare them.”
It means that college softball gets a boost from the return of three of its best players.
Garcia, a pitcher who also plays first base, was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019 and Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 Women’s College World Series. Nickles, a utility player, was a Softball America All-American in 2019. Mulipola was NFCA Catcher of the Year as a junior in 2019 and was a first-team NFCA All-American that season.
Garcia said the three still are very much a part of Team USA’s preparation.
“We do have the opportunity to be involved when we have our Zoom calls or team meetings,” she said. “So we’re still being included with the loop of everything. And on top of it, we were told that whenever we are needed, we’re allowed to go and just train, play, or whatever is going on anytime we are needed up until the Olympics.”
Eriksen said he’s not worried about whether the players will be ready because the programs they play for know what to do. Candrea is one of college softball’s most accomplished coaches. UCLA assistant coach Lisa Fernandez is a three-time Olympic champion.
Garcia, Nickles, Mulipola and Plain all play for Pac-12 teams, and all know how difficult it will be to get victories when they cross paths. In the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll, UCLA is No. 1, Arizona is No. 3 and Washington is No. 5.
Nickles said the matchups with Mulipola and Arizona will be extra special this season.
“It is really cool that our other teammate is at a Pac12 school,” Nickles said.