US, China, Japan and Taiwan Form Pacific Rim Association

Dec. 1, 2014

IWATA, JAPAN – Softball representatives from China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States have announced the formation of the Pacific Rim Slowpitch Softball Association during the second annual Pacific Rim Championships held here in early November.

“We are creating the Pacific Rim Slow-Pitch Softball Association to help build the sport throughout the Pacific Rim region,” said Terry Hennessy, the American representative and chief executive officer of Senior Softball-USA (SSUSA).

Teams from the four countries played in Beijing last year for an inaugural Pacific Rim Championships and here this year. In 2015, SSUSA will host the Pacific Rim Championships during the World Masters Championships in Las Vegas, which attracted more than 500 teams this year.

This year in Iwata, the U.S. team came in second behind the team from Northern China (8-5) in the rain-shortened tournament.

The tournament uses a safety ball, known as the Joyful ball, which is extremely soft and made for the short fields in Asia.

The MVP for the U.S. team was John Fournier from California, who played shortstop and had the highest batting average. Dale Myers, the U.S. pitcher from Washington State won Best Defense, and Jerry Scanlan of Southern California, one of the few players on any team who hit home runs, was named Best Offense.

The tournament attracted 42 teams.

While the Pacific Rim Association was officially launched this year, the road to the agreement began in 2000 when Senior Softball-USA responded to an invitation to send senior teams to compete in Japan to help build the sport there. Over the next 14 years, Japan and the U.S. continued to compete in each other’s senior championships and later expanded to play in Taiwan and China.

In addition to Hennessy, the association charter representatives include Shouji Matsumoto of Japan Softball, Robert Hsu of Taiwan Softball, and Ye Zhongsheng of China. Zhaoli Chen, who teaches in Japan and is promoting softball in China, was selected executive director of the new association.

Representatives made it clear that one of the primary goals was to recruit other Pacific Rim countries to join the association.

“The friendships we are forging here are the foundation of international cooperation that provide a beacon of hope for all who witness it,” said Hennessy.