University of Albany´s Leah McIntosh Earns Spot on Canada's Senior National Softball Team - UAlbany Sports 2009

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Surrey, British Columbia – UAlbany’s Leah McIntosh earned a spot on the Canadian National Softball team and will represent her country at the 16th Canada Cup International Women's Fastpitch Tournament in Surrey, British Columbia from July 4-12, as announced by Softball Canada on Monday evening. The native of Whitby, Ontario was one of 19 players and five pitchers selected to the squad which will compete against other national teams such as the Netherlands, Australia, Venezuela and the United States over the nine-day period.

The roster includes nine players returning from the 2008 Olympic Team, four players who played for the Canadian Junior Women’s National Team two years ago and six others who were selected from three evaluation camps held over the past month.

McIntosh, who competed as a member of the Canadian Junior National Softball Team in 2007, is a two-time NFCA all-regional selection and the reigning America East Conference Pitcher of the Year. She hurled a national-best four perfect games as well as 10 shutouts this spring. McIntosh broke the Division I program records for career strikeouts (621) and no-hitters (6) while leading America East with a 1.34 earned run average. A member of the ECAC Division I All-Star Team, her 10.6 strikeouts per seven innings led the conference and ranked third in the country.

The Canada Cup is one of the premier women's international softball competitions in the world with annual average gate attendance of over 100,000 fans for the nine-day event. Last year’s tournament included five of the top eight Olympic squads as they prepared for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.