Two Tide Softball Players Named to U.S. National Team

Haylie McCleney and Jaclyn Traina have both been selected to the 2014 USA Softball Women’s National Team roster that will compete in numerous events this summer, including the International Softball Federation (ISF) Women’s World Championship.

McCleney is making her first appearance on the National Team after competing with the Junior National Team last season, while Traina is making her second appearance on the team. Alabama joins Arizona, California, Florida and Tennessee as the only schools with multiple current or former players on the roster.

McCleney, native of Morris, Ala., followed up her stellar 2013 debut season with an even more impressive sophomore campaign in 2014. She was named a NFCA First Team All-American and Capital One Academic All-American, making her just the seventh player in school history to earn both awards in the same season. She was a Top 10 Finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award, leading the team with a .444 average, .556 on-base percentage and 70 runs scored. She started 65 games in center field, reaching base safely in all but one of those games. Her career batting average (.454) and on-base percentage (.548) are both currently school records, while she ranks second in career stolen base percentage (.941) and third in career slugging percentage (.674). McCleney is the sixth player in Alabama history to earn All-American honors in her first two seasons and is just the third to earn First Team honors in her sophomore season.

Traina, a 2014 graduate out of Naples, Fla., finished her Alabama career with 106 wins, making her just the third player in school history and ninth in SEC history with over 100 career wins. Along with McCleney, Traina was also named a Top 10 Finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award. She was named a First Team All-American in 2014, making her the fifth four-time All-American in school history and the only one to earn three First Team honors. She earned her second career SEC Pitcher of the Year award in 2014, suffering just one loss in conference play en route to the team’s fifth SEC Championship. Traina also ranks third in career strikeout average (7.91), third in saves (10), third in games started (130), third in innings pitched (863.2), sixth in career opposing batting average (.199) and sixth in ERA (2.03).

The 17-person roster will regroup next month for an exhibition game in Morgantown, W. Va. before traveling to Irvine, Calif. for the General Tire World Cup of Softball July 7-13. In preparation for the ISF Women’s World Championships, August 15-24, 2014 in Haarlem, Netherlands, the 2014 Women’s National Team will compete in exhibition games as well as three tournaments that include the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX in Irvine, Calif July 7-13, the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada July 15-21 and Italian Softball Week in Azzano, Italy August 6-10. Their complete schedule, including exhibition game dates and locations can be found here.

Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla./Head Coach at USF) will lead the National Team and will be assisted by three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Laura Berg (Corvalis, Ore./head coach Oregon State) as well as Howard Dobson (Orange, Texas/assistant coach at LSU) and Lisa Dodd (San Diego, Calif./head coach at UNLV) throughout the summer events.