Natasha Watley
Encyclopedia
Natasha Watley is an American professional softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

 player currently with the USA Softball Women’s National Team
United States women's national softball team
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. She plays the position of shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...

 and first base, and helped her team to win the gold medal for softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Softball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the Olympic Softball Stadium in the Helliniko Olympic Complex from August 14 to 23. The United States won the gold while Australia took silver and Japan , the bronze....

 in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. She is the first African-American female to play on the USA Softball team in the Olympics.

Early life

Watley was born in Canoga Park, California to parents Edwin and Carolyn Watley. Watley attended Woodbridge High School
Woodbridge High School (Irvine, California)
Woodbridge High School is a public high school located in Irvine, California, serving grades 9-12. Founded in 1980, it has an approximate enrollment of 2,200 students. Woodbridge has many athletic teams which have participated in numerous competitions...

 where she was named second team Louisville Slugger All-American in her junior and senior years. She hit over .445 in her last three seasons in addition to stealing 20+ bases each season.

College career

A four-time first team All-American shortstop from UCLA, Watley led her team to three straight Women's College World Series
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series is the final portion of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three title game series...

 and the NCAA Division I Softball Championship
NCAA Division I Softball Championship
The NCAA Division I Softball Championship tournament is held each year in June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series , which is played in Oklahoma City....

 title in 2003. In her senior year, she was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup
Honda-Broderick Cup
The Honda-Broderick Cup is a sports award for college-level female athletes. The awards are voted on by a national panel of more than 1000 collegiate athletic directors. It was first presented by the late Thomas Broderick, owner of a sports apparel company, in 1977, with the first award going to...

 for top collegiate female athlete, as well as the PAC-10
Pacific Ten Conference
The Pacific-12 Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the Western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...

 Player of the Year award. In her four years as a starter for the Bruins, she finished top three in career hits (395), top five in career runs (252), top ten in career batting average (.450) and top ten in career stolen bases (158). Watley holds the single season record for hits (112) and is currently ranked fourth in Pac-10 history. In 2001, she managed a 32 game hit streak which is the fifth longest in NCAA history. Watley is also listed seventh on the all-time NCAA record books with 112 hits in a single season. As a junior, she surpassed the UCLA career record for runs scored, finishing the season with 188. She was also the first UCLA Bruin to have two 100+ hit seasons.

National team

In the summer of 2001, Watley played for the USA Red Team helping them win the US Cup and place third at the Canada Cup
Canada Cup (softball)
The Canada Cup is an annual international women's softball tournament held at the Softball City Complex in South Surrey, British Columbia.-Format:...

. She was named Most Inspirational Player at the Canada Cup in addition to being named to the all-tournament team. In 2002, she was named to the all-tournament team at the Canada Cup and the 2002 ISF World Championship
2002 ISF World Championship
The 2002 ISF Women's World Championship for softball was held July 26-August 4, 1998 in Saskatoon, Canada. The United States, which went undefeated for the tournament, won a fifth straight world championship with a 1-0 victory over Japan...

 tournaments where she also earned Most Valuable Player. In 2003, Watley was also awarded a gold medal for her performance at the Pan American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...

. She has finished twice as a top-three finalist for USA Softball National Player of the Year award (2002 and 2003).

2004 Olympics

In 2004, Watley assisted the US softball team to their third consecutive gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens. Watley was third on the team with a .400 batting average, with 9 hits and 10 RBI. She also broke the Olympic record for stolen bases with five in nine games.

Professional career

Watley played her first season professionally with the New York/New Jersey Juggernaut in the National Pro Fastpitch
National Pro Fastpitch
National Pro Fastpitch , formerly the Women's Pro Softball League , is the only professional women's softball league in the United States. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001. The NPF revived the league in 2004 and currently features four teams: USSSA Pride, Akron Racers, Chicago...

 league in 2005. In her rookie season, Watley led the Nauts in batting with a .374 average and tallied 37 hits as the leadoff hitter. In 2006, Watley played for the Philadelphia Force
Philadelphia Force
The Philadelphia Force was/is a women's professional softball team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. From 2006 to 2009 it played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch league until a failed sales in September of 2009 but the team's future is in question and is still undecided...

 in the NPF. Today Watley plays for the USSSA Pride
USSSA Pride
The USSSA Pride, formerly known as the Washington Glory, are a women's softball team based in Kissimmee, Florida in the United States. The USSSA Pride became a part of the National Pro Fastpitch League in 2009. In their first season, the Pride were the runner-up in the NPF Championship. The name...

based out of Kissimmee, FL.

External links

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