This post was originally published on this site
The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025 will open in the Lombardy Region, Italy, on Friday, June 27. Below we summarise the 10 things you really need to know about the tournament.
1 – The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup is the newest WBSC Softball World Cup. It played its maiden edition in 2023 in Japan with Italy hosting the second edition. All three medallists from the first edition (the defending U-15 Women’s Softball World Champions USA, the runner-up Puerto Rico and bronze medal winners Japan) will participate in the tournament.
2 – Nine of the top 10 in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Ranking will participate in the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025: No. 1 USA, No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Puerto Rico, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Canada, No. 7 Italy, No. 8 Czechia, No. 9 Mexico and No. 10 Australia.
3 – No. 64 American Samoa will participate in a WBSC Softball World Cup for the first time. They will need to fly almost 17,000 kilometres to reach Italy. Australia, Canada, No. 29 Singapore, and No. 13 Spain also participate in the event for the first time.
4 – Japan’s manager, Yu Yamamoto, then 33, batted fourth and played third base for Japan in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics gold medal game against the United States. She went 1-for-3 and scored one run in the 2-0 Japanese win. Yamamoto served as a coach at the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Finals 2024 under her former manager, Reika Utsugi.
5 – Italy’s utility player Anita Bissa is a World Cup veteran, but she will participate in her first Women’s Softball World Cup. Anita was one of the two girls on Italy’s roster at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2022. She pitched 2.1 innings against the host team, Chinese Taipei, with her performance drawing plenty of attention from local commentators.
6 – Italy’s Head Coach, Maristella Perizzolo, has done it all in softball. Born in 1070, she played and coached in the Italian Softball League, founded the Jacks Torino club in 2015, led Saronno to the Cadets National Championship in 2016 and was named Coach of the Year at the end of the season. To add to her impressive softball resume, in 2013, she was part of the Lentini’s Team that won the competitive women’s softball tournament at the World Masters Games in Torino, Italy.
7 – Caronno Pertusella (1968) and Legnano (1964) started softball activity before the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS) even had an official softball championship. The inaugural Italian Serie A women’s softball league opened in 1969.
8 – The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025 host cities lie in an area that has a lot to offer. A half-hour drive can take you to either Milan or Como, its lake, and the border with Switzerland.
9 – The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup Trophy is currently on tour in the Lombardy Region. The tour started on May 31 in Garlasco and Rho, passing through Rescaldina, Brescia, Legnano, Caronno Pertusella, and the region’s capital, Milan, and will end in Saronno on Sunday, June 22. FIBS will present Italy’s official uniforms the same night.
10 – The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025 will mark the third consecutive year that FIBS hosts a WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup after the Women’s Softball World Cup Group C in 2023 and the Women’s Softball World Cup Finals in 2024. It will be the first time that Italy hosts a youth WBSC World Cup.
