CARACAS, VENEZUELA – The captain of Venezuela’s women’s national softball team has been elected as the athlete representative on the International Softball Federation’s Board of Directors. Maria Soto, a 2008 Olympian, assumes the position effective immediately, ISF President Don Porter announced.
The 31-year old, whose team was eliminated yesterday from the ISF XII Women’s World Championship being played here, was elected by her fellow athletes, with voting done during the ten-day tournament.
Soto had been nominated by the Venezuela Softball Federation. Others who were in the running for the position were (alphabetically by last name) Lynn Alexander (South Africa), Valeria Livschitz (Argentina), Danielle Stewart (Australia), and Stacie Townsend (Great Britain).
"We are happy to welcome Maria Soto to the ISF Board of Directors," the ISF president said. "The athletes can play an important part in our sport off the field too and she will certainly contribute to all that we are doing. Being her team’s captain she knows the responsibilities that come with being in a key position. Her input as well as the perspective from an athlete still active on the field will be very important.
"The Board thanks the others who were nominated and is pleased to see the participation that went into this election. Our ISF Athletes Commission has been very committed to seeing this process through and we look forward to moving forward now with Maria as part of this administrative team."
Soto was born in Valencia and began playing softball at age 15. Bilingual (English and Spanish), she attended the University of Mobile (Alabama, USA) and went on to coach there. Soto played on Venezuela’s team that earned a share of the silver medals at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio.
In addition to the event that is concluding here today, she also played at the last ISF women’s world championship (2006). She also won a gold medal at the Central American & Caribbean Games in both 2006 and 2002. She debuted with Venezuela in December 1994 at the Pan Am qualifier in Guatemala.
For more information contact: Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@ISFsoftball.org
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