CARY, N.C. - USA Baseball announced the 2018 Women's National Team Trials roster on Sunday following the conclusion of the 2018 Women's National Open, the primary identification event for the Women's National Team. The roster is made up of 40 women from 20 different states across the U.S.
The Women's National Team Trials will begin Monday, June 11, and will consist of workouts and a series of three intrasquad games at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The final 20-woman roster will be announced on Monday, June 18.
The 2018 Women's National Team will then reconvene in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from August 16-20 for training before competing in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women's Baseball World Cup in Viera, Florida, from August 22-31.
Team USA is a two-time world champion in the event (2004, 2006), and has won two silver medals (2012, 2014) and two bronze medals (2008, 2010) as well.
"The talent at this year's Women's National Open has been some of the best we've ever seen, so narrowing the field down to 40 was a difficult task," Senior Director of Baseball Operations, Ashley Bratcher, said. "But we are very excited to have these 40 players continuing on in the process this week to compete for a spot on this year's Women's National Team.
"Our staff feels this is not only a talented group, but also a group of individuals that would represent our country well both on and off the field."
The trials roster includes five players that have won a gold medal in the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Women's World Cup. Laura Purser Collins (Norman, Okla.) played on the inaugural squad in 2004, while Tamara Holmes (Sacramento, Calif.), Meggie Meidlinger (Marietta, Ga.), Marti Sementelli (West Newton, Mass.) and Malaika Underwood (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) started their Team USA careers on the 2006 team.
Underwood currently holds the record for most appearances on a USA Baseball national team, having represented the U.S. eight times.
In total, 18 alumni of the Women's National Team will once again compete for a chance to wear the red, white and blue in 2018, including 11 members of the Women's National Team that won gold at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.
In addition to national team alumni, nine trials invitees have previously participated in USA Baseball events, including past Women's National Team Trials, Women's National Opens, Women's National Team Development Programs (NTDP), Women's National Team Identification Series (NTIS), Trailblazer Series and the USA Baseball National Team Championships.
Nine athletes on the Trials roster are new to the Women's National Team Program in 2018.
Matt Weagle, who is in his fifth year coaching the Women's National Team, is making his managerial debut this year after serving as the team's pitching coach in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He was also the field coordinator for the Women's National Team Development Program in 2017.
Veronica Alvarez (pitching coach), who represented Team USA five times as a player, Cody Kauffman (assistant coach) and Ernie May (assistant coach) round out the 2018 staff. All three are making their national team coaching debuts in 2018.
For more information on the Women's National Team and the selection process, please visit USABaseball.com or follow along on Twitter at @USABaseballWNT and @USABaseball.
2018 USA Baseball Women's National Team Trials Roster:
(Name; Position; State)
^Brynn Baca; C/IF; Round Rock, Texas
*^Megan Baltzell; OF/LHP; Stafford, Va.
Denae Benites; IF/RHP; Las Vegas, Nev.
Ila Borders; LHP; Los Angeles, Calif.
Dakota Christie; RHP/UTL; Harrisburg, N.C.
*^Michelle Cobb; IF; Wenatchee, Wash.
*^Samantha Cobb; OF/RHP; Garland, Texas
*^Laura Collins; RHP; Hollywood, Fla.
^Trinity Curtis; OF/IF; Chatsworth, Calif.
Nadia Diaz; IF/C; Syracuse, N.Y.
Amanda Esquivel; IF/OF; Santa Ana, Calif.
*^Shelby Estocado; OF/IF; Las Vegas, Nev.
*^Veronica Gajownik; IF; Oviedo, Fla.
*^Amanda Gianelloni; IF; Napoleonville, La.
^Maycen Gibbs; C/OF; Folsom, Calif.
*Brittany Gomez; OF; New Braunfels, Texas
*^Jade Gortarez; IF/RHP; Riverside, Calif.
Elizabeth Greenwood; C; Amherst, N.H.
*^AJ Hamilton; C/OF; Tallahassee, Fla.
^Thea Hanscom; RHP/IF; Hadley, Mass.
*^Tamara Holmes; OF/IF; Albany, Calif.
Alexandra Hugo; IF/OF; Olathe, Kan.
Monica Islava-Corella; OF; Tucson, Ariz.
Skylar Kaplan; RHP/UTL; Baltimore, Md.
*^Anna Kimbrell; C; Fort Mill, S.C.
Kylee Lahners; IF/OF; Laguna Hills, Calif.
Ashton Lansdell; IF/RHP; Marietta, Ga.
*^Meggie Meidlinger; RHP; Sterling, Va.
*^Stacy Piagno; RHP; St. Augustine, Fla.
Jacqueline Reynolds; IF/RHP; Woburn, Mass.
Katherine Reynolds; RHP; Belmont, Mass.
Brittany Schutte; RHP/IF; Gainesville, Fla. 
*^Marti Sementelli; RHP; Newton, Mass.
Paige Sneddon; OF; Pittsburgh, Pa.
*Sara Tobias; RHP/OF; New York, N.Y.
^Emily Tsujikawa; RHP; Redmond, Wash.
*^Malaika Underwood; IF; San Diego, Calif.
*^Kelsie Whitmore; OF/RHP; Temecula, Calif.
Raine Wilson; IF/RHP; Mechanicsville, Va.
Brittany Womack; OF; Escondido, Calif.
 *Denotes Women's National Team alum
^Denotes Women's National Team Development Program member