BATON ROUGE — Former LSU All-American and student assistant coach Trena Peel was selected to participate on the 2003 USA Softball Elite Team as announced by the Amateur Softball Association on Monday.
The 16-member Elite Team will compete in the Canada Cup, July 4-13, and in an exhibition series versus Australia in San Francisco, July 15-20.
The 2002 SEC Athlete of the Year, Peel earned second-team All-America honors and was named to the SEC All-Tournament team. The Aurora, Colo. native, led the nation in triples this season with 14, two shy of the NCAA record. With that mark, she broke both the LSU and SEC single-season records and completed her career with 27 career triples, 13th in NCAA history.
Last season she served as a student assistant coach for the Tigers while earning her degree in kinesiology in May.
This marks the second straight season that Peel has competed for the United State on the Elite Team. She participated in the Canada Cup last season, where the team advanced to the championship game before losing to the USA National Team in the finals. She was also a member of the USA National Red team during the summer of 2001.
The 2003 Elite Team was chosen from 50 participants at Women’s Pan Am Tryout Camp, June 4-7, in Chula Vista, Calif.
In addition to Peel, players selected for the USA Softball Elite Team including Selena Collins, Glendale, AZ; Jodie Cox, Lancaster, CA; Courtney Dale, Fresno, CA; Teri Goldberg, Ft. Collins, CO; Alicia Hollowell, Suisun City, CA; Lyndsey Klein, Roseville, CA; Kelly Kretschman, Indian Harbor Beach, FL; Lauren Lappin, Anaheim, CA; Toni Mascarenas, Garden Grove, CA; Ihyia McMichael, Nacadoches, TX; Gina Oaks, Alta Loma, CA; Jamie Southern, Clovis, CA; Nichole Thompson, Irvine, CA; Mackenzie Vandergeest, Newbury Park, CA; and Kelli Wilkerson, Jacksonville, FL.
The coaches for the Elite Team are head coach Jay Miller (Starkville, MS) from Mississippi State, assistant coach Michele Gromacki (Huntington Beach, CA) from Cal State Fullerton and assistant coach Kirk Walker (Keizer, OR) from Oregon State.