Pitching and defense has been a staple of USF head softball coach Ken Eriksen's success, and the formula hasn't changed during his summer job, leading the USA National Team to seven straight wins, including a 3-0 one-hit win over Australia in the Softball World Cup Championship Game.

Eriksen's team has dominated the field, allowing just eight hits and not committing an error in four shutouts thus far, and trailing just once all season. Team USA used two pitchers to start the World Cup tournament off with a one-hit win over Puerto Rico, then finished strong as four pitchers combined to allow just three hits in the final two games.

As dominant as the pitching has been, the bats have certainly been an area of strength as well. Team USA pounded out 12 extra-base hits over the six-game tournament, out-scoring opponents 34-2 in the win.

Moving forward, Eriksen takes Team USA to British Columbia for the Canadian Open Fastpitch Championship for an eight-game tournament. America will see some new competition in this tournament, including Japan, Venezuela and New Zealand, and will kick off this six-day competition tomorrow with a 3 p.m. game against Venezuela.

The Women's World Championship in Yukon, Canada begins on July 13 and will last nine days, with sixteen teams competing for the title.