Will softball give Puerto Rico first World Cup medal in national team sports?
When Puerto Rico open their WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Finals campaign on 15 July at Castions di Strada in Italy, taking on the Netherlands, they will start the tournament as one of the favourites.
Their dominant performance in last year's Women's Softball World Cup Group B - where they finished with a 5-1 record, combining a .308 batting average and allowing only seven earned runs in six games - and their win at the Pan American Championship in April saw them move to a record high position in the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking of No. 2.
"It feels good being No. 2," Puerto Rico head coach David Santos told the WBSC. "Still, our ultimate goal is to win [the World Cup]. We want to give all we have on the field to make people back home happy. Puerto Rico never won a medal in team sports world competitions."
Group B of the WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Finals 2024 looks very competitive. After world No. 8 Netherlands, Puerto Rico will then play No. 3 Japan on July 16 and No. 10 Australia on July 17.
"You need to beat the best if you want to be the best," commented Santos, who believes that "team spirit and attitude" will prove his team's best asset. "We know and understand how good the other teams are. We respect them."
"Unfortunately, we won't have Aminah Vega, our starting shortstop," Santos added. "She was injured during her college season [at Duke University] in the United States. We may also need to make changes to the pitching staff.
"[But] we have a large pool of talent. We have worked well, and we are cashing the dividends. I believe we will field a team of last year's level."
The Softball Federation of Puerto Rico runs a 12-team high-performance Women's Softball League, development programmes in the U-12, U-14, and U-17 age brackets involving 50 teams, and a U-22 league that plays during the top league's off-season.
Santos, who emphasized that he considers himself "the husband of Zahira Marín and the father of 19-year-old David and 17-year-old Dylan Javier" before being a softball coach, has been at the helm of Puerto Rico Women's Softball National Team since 2021 and has served as Puerto Rico Softball Federation technical director since 2009. He is a pastor at a church on the island and has coached softball since 2002.
Puerto Rico will warm up for the Finals in Italy and participate in an international tournament featuring other Women's Softball World Cup Finalists. Details and the schedule will be announced later.