MOORE: Won last year’s World Championship game

More pressing business for the Americans is next month’s Pan American Women’s Softball Championships, which also serve as a World Championship qualifier. Everything Team USA is doing this summer has been building toward that tournament in the Dominican Republic, so much so that even the World Cup was part international tournament, part USA player evaluation camp.

Moore’s skill and five-year veteran status with Team USA would seem to make her a lock for the final 15-player roster headed to the DR, and for any national team in the near future, as long as she stays healthy.

But that’s not her outlook. “You always have to have that anxiety about what could happen,” she said. “You can’t feel comfortable.” Good things have continued to happen for Moore in softball since she led the Huskies to three Northern Section championships, was a three-time AppealDemocrat Player of the Year from 2007-09. She went from Sutter to the University of Oregon, where she was a first-team All Pac-12 selection three years in a row and was named the conference’s pitcher of the year in 2013.

That summer, she joined Team USA and was immediately a big factor in helping the squad win gold and silver at a pair of international events. But unsurprisingly, she also experienced some tough moments.

“As the years have gone by, I’ve tried to get better and better,” she said. “There was a learning curve, but I’ve started to settle in a little bit. There are certain things I don’t have to battle anymore.

“The first few years, I didn’t know my opponents very well. And I was playing against women.”

Point being, Moore knew she was well past the time when high school players in opposing dugouts would cheer when their teammates got just enough contact to hit foul balls off her.

These days Moore is not always overpowering in the circle, just very efficient.

“I’m an extreme competitor. I’m super, super, super competitive,” she said. “I’m not a big strikeout pitcher, but I’m going to pitch to contact and get people out.”

Last year, Moore pitched 2 ⁄ innings in relief and gained the win in Team USA’s 7-3 win over Japan for World Championship gold medal. She was 8-2 for the entire summer with a staff-high 43 strikeouts in 37 ⁄ innings. She had a 2.79 earned-run average and threw a no-hitter against Australia in the World Championships.

When Moore was named USA Softball’s Female Athlete of the Year in February, Ken Eriksen, head coach of both Team USA and the University of South Florida, said in a statement, “This is a well-deserved honor for the backbone of our pitching staff. Her outings against Australia and Japan were stellar. Her entire summer was consistent and we will continue to build on that.”

Said Moore of the award, “I think it was a huge honor. We had a phenomenal year last year. To receive that honor after a year like that, I’m appreciative of it.”

Moore lives in Tampa, Florida, so she looked forward to the Raley Field stop on Team USA’s exhibition tour. “It’s really exciting to be close to home again,” she said. “I don’t get to make it out here enough.

“There are a lot of family and friends who have never seen me (in person a Team USA uniform).”

Now many of them have. And if Moore has her way, the rest can see her on television from Santo Domingo. Or Chiba. Or Tokyo ...

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