The 2024 Women's Softball World Cup was the 17th Women's Softball World Cup, an international softball tournament taking place in Balbriggan, Ireland; Buttrio and Castions di Strada, Italy and Valencia, Spain. The group stage took place from 11–26 July 2023, held as three separate groups across three nations. The finals took place in Buttrio and Castions di Strada, Italy from 15–20 July 2024. This was the first WBSC event to be held in two stages. It was the first time Ireland, Italy and Spain had hosted a major softball tournament. It also was the first time more than one nation hosted the tournament.
Qualified teams TeamWorld rankingMethod of qualification8th2022 Women's Softball European Championship third place/Hosts17thHosts12thHosts38thAfrican Qualifier43rdAfrican Qualifier1st2022 Pan American Championship winners5th2022 Pan American Championship runners-up28th2022 Pan American Championship third place4th2022 Pan American Championship fourth place22nd2022 Pan American Championship fifth place2nd2023 Women's Softball Asia Cup winners11th2023 Women's Softball Asia Cup runners-up3rd2023 Women's Softball Asia Cup third place26th2023 Women's Softball Asia Cup fourth place10th2022 Women's Softball European Championship winners16th2022 Women's Softball European Championship runners-up9thOceania Spot29thOceania Spot Notes
Squads
Officials 30 umpires were selected by the WBSC for the tournament.
+ Umpires Confederation Umpires WBSC Africa Abel Mataboge (Botswana) WBSC Americas Gabriela Elizabeth Jiménez (Argentina) Marni Bodnarchuk (Canada) Trevor Topping (Canada) Juan Felipe Arteaga (Colombia) Maykel García (Cuba) Renzo Ruiz (Mexico) José Chaparro (Puerto Rico) Naomi Jenise Erdahl (United States) Steve McCown (United States) Manuel Tovar (Venezuela) WBSC Asia Zhiling Yu (China) Yu Sung Lin (Chinese Taipei) Ayaka Sasajima (Japan) Norikazu Hamasaki (Japan) WBSC Europe Sara Dielen (Belgium) Alen Magdalenic (Croatia) Jan Hora (Czech Republic) Michal Zidek (Czech Republic) Galip Sönmez (Germany) Thomas Hans-Georg Lohnert (Germany) Jana Lee McCaskill (Great Britain) Sabrina Fabrizi (Italy) Mariana Atanasova-Prins (Netherlands) Patrick Reus (Netherlands) WBSC Oceania Jason Lewins Carter Australia Anthony Kaiaruna New Zealand + Umpire Directors Confederation Umpire Director WBSC Europe Gian Paolo Pelosi (Italy) Luis Ignacio Pardo Lozano (Spain) WBSC Americas Chris Drumm (United States)
Venues Group AGroup B Group C & Finals Balbriggan, Ireland Valencia, Spain Buttrio, Italy Castions di Strada, ItalyO'Dwyers GAACamp Municipal de ValènciaCampo Cav. Gino MicheluttiCampo Comunale da Softball
Group stage Group A
Group A will be contested in Balbriggan during 11–15 July 2023.
Group B
Group B will be contested in Valencia during 18–22 July 2023.
Group C
Group C will be contested in Castions di Strada and Buttrio during 22–26 July 2023.
Finals rankings The ranking of the wildcard spots for the finals stage are as follows. 1) Hosts 2)Top third-place team(s) in the Group Stage, based on final standings from the previous edition of the World Cup 3)Top third-place team(s) in the Group Stage based on the highest position in the WBSC Rankings at the end of the previous calendar year.
Rank Team Previous WC Ranking Qualification1 (H)78Qualified as hosts21011Qualified from previous World Cup ranking31116
Italy qualified for the finals as host of that stage, while China qualified as the third placed team with the next best finish at the previous World Cup.
Finals
Group A
Group B
Placement Round
Super Round
Final Round Third place play-off
Final
Statistics
The statistics below include all group stage and finals games.
Homeruns There have been 34 homeruns scored in 52 matches, for an average of homeruns per match (as of 26 July 2023).
2 homeruns Emma Entzminger Nodoka Harada Hotaru Tsukamoto Alison Aguilar
1 homerun
Philippa Adkins Jade Wall Kelsey Harshman Kianna Jones Janet Leung Min Ren Jiaxin Xie Chia-Yun Chang Szu-Shih Li Chia-Wen Shen Georgina Corrick Kendyl Scott Mckenzie Barbara Giulia Koutsoyanopulos Erika Piancastelli Kyoko Ishikawa Kanna Kudo Minori Naito Dinet Oosting Maxime van Dalen Nicole Hammoude Meritxell Blesa Uxua Modrego Kiara Robinson-Milloy Yuruby Alicart Yakary Molina
Player of the day + Player of the day Day Player Notes 11 Jul Georgina Corrick 7 IP3 H0 R1 BB7 K 12 Jul Kaia Parnaby 7 IP1 H0 R0 BB14 K 13 Jul Megan Faraimo 8 IP1 H0 R2 BB10 K 18 Jul Yanisleidys Casanova 3–32 RBI3 B5 TB 19 Jul Yilian Tornes 7 IP9 SO3 H1 R 20 Jul Aleshia Ocasio 7 IP8 SO5 H1 R 21 Jul Yilian Tornes 7 IP13 SO4 H1 R 22 Jul Alice Nicolini 7 IP4 SO3 H2 RCG 23 Jul Marta Gasparotto 4–84 RBI2 R5 TB 24 Jul Morgan Rackel 6.2 IP4 SO6 H2 R 25 Jul Nicole Hammoude 4–54 RBI5 RHR9 TB
Awards Most Valuable Players Group stage Group A – Hannah Flippen Group B – Aleshia Ocasio Group C – Ayane Nakagawa
Finals Yukiko Ueno
Symbols Match balls The match balls that will be used for the 2024 tournament are the Mizuno M170 balls.
Notes
References