News story

New International Circuit Includes Japan, Germany, US

Jan. 1, 2001 – Senior Softball-USA

The newly formed International Senior Softball Federation (ISSF) will be supporting three international competitive tournaments: the first in Germany in July, the second in the United States in September and the third in Japan in November.

In addition, the Senior Softball-USA's 14th International Tour will bring US teams to Italy for exhibition games in October.

Senior Softball-USA will select teams to compete in Germany and Japan. And international teams will compete during the Senior Softball World Championships in Las Vegas in September.

Officials from the Japan Softball Association, the German Baseball-Softball Federation and Senior Softball-USA founded the ISSF to promote senior softball throughout the world. Senior Softball-USA has been asked to administer the ISSF.

"2000 marked the beginning of ISSF competition with American, Japanese and German teams competing in Japan," said Bob Mitchell, president and founder of Senior Softball-USA. "This year, international teams will compete in three countries - and this is just the beginning."

The Japanese team challenged the USA team to return in 2001 to defend its title and the German team, representing the German Baseball-Softball Federation, invited the Senior Softball-USA to field a team to compete in the European National Senior Softball Championships in Frankfurt in July 2001.

To reciprocate, two men's teams and a women's team from Japan, as well as the German team accepted invitations to participate in the 2001 Senior Softball World Championships in Las Vegas in September.