The World Games Men’s Softball: Coaches declare teams ready on eve of tournament

The Men's Softball competition at The World Games 2025 is set to begin in Chengdu, China following Tuesday's technical meeting, where team rosters were confirmed and head coaches declared their squads ready for the five-day event, which gets underway on Wednesday at the Xindu Better City Softball Arena.

Recently crowned world champions Venezuela will play for the first time as the world-title holders. However, head coach Delio Lopez doesn't want to be overexcited about it. "I want to be honest, we haven’t been able to rest. Many people still haven’t fully grasped what we achieved, and now they’re already saying we have to repeat it. But those who know this sport, understand it doesn’t work that way," he said. "It can happen because we’ll do everything in our power, but here we’re facing the best teams in the world, with few exceptions. We’re here to try to raise Venezuela’s name as high as possible, and may the luckiest team win this tournament."

Lopez mentioned that he will try to take the pressure of being world champions off the athletes’ shoulders. "I try to make them see this as just another game, like we did in the World Cup, and not to focus on reputations. Right now, we’re the ones with the reputation, but that could just be luck because this game is unpredictable, sometimes the best team on paper doesn’t win," he added. "This game has to be played day by day, and that’s what we’re here for. Our goal is to finish in the top three. Our aim is to be among the top four to fight for the medals, and then we’ll see what happens."

Argentina's coach Jose Guerrinieri said the same about his team. “Our goal is the same as in every competition we play, to be on the podium. I believe we can achieve this goal, beyond the team’s broader goal of taking it game by game, enjoying ourselves, reaching our highest level, and moving forward. If we talk about a result, making the podium is our goal," he declared.

Argentina didn't have a good tournament at the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Finals 2025 in Prince Albert. However, Guerrinieri doesn't take this competition as a rematch. "The World Cup is over. It is a new opportunity to raise our level and rise to the occasion. We understand we weren’t at the desired level in the World Cup, and this is a chance to improve," he said.

Despite being the new world No.1, Japan have never claimed a global title at the highest level of men's softball. They want to change it soon. "Of course, our goal is to get the gold medal at this competition," said head coach Shinji Eguchi. "Our offence is doing well since the World Cup. The only thing to improve is our pitching. Compared to other nations, our pitchers are a little bit slower. So it's an important thing to have a variation of the ball." 

The other team in Group A is Czechia, one of two teams that didn't play the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Finals 2025 in Prince Albert and received a wild card to get into The World Games. "I don't think there's any pressure on us. We're just here to play good ball and see how good we are," said head coach Jaroslav Korkac. "We didn't play the Finals, but the level was great. I enjoyed watching the games. I think we tried to do our homework. And we used the games for scouting as well."

Korkac said they face a tough group, with all the participating teams in great shape. However, they want to make history for the European nation. "We've never made it into top six. So, making it to the top four would be a great accomplishment for us," Korkac said. "We'll do our best to bring some joy to the fans back home and play good softball."

In Group B, Canada will look to rebound from a tough tournament in Prince Albert and return to medal contention in this event. Their Delegation Leader, Mike Branchaud, said that the team's goal is the same as every tournament. "You want to be in that gold medal game, right? So, you do want to medal, you do want to play well. Obviously, there's tough competition here, but with the travel and everything, we're going to do our best to start with and hopefully be in that gold medal game at the end of the week," he said.

However, the roster of the maple leaf team looks a bit different this time, with five different players from the World Cup roster. "It's nice to have that injection of youth and some young blood that are going to actually get some playing time. So, that'll be interesting to see," he said. "And we still have four good pitchers, so we're going to keep rotating those guys through and, you know, plan on hitting the ball and be there when it counts."

USA is coming from back to back bronze medals at the World Cup but now it's time for them to reach the next level and be back in the Final of a global competition said head coach, Ron Hackett. “We’re excited for this group leading into what will be an exciting and challenging summer,” Hackett said. “With that being said, make no mistake, our goals and expectations don’t change, and we intend to compete for a gold medal at The World Games. This roster and coaching staff are ready and willing to put in the work needed to achieve that goal."

Singapore is the lowest-ranked team in the competition, however for head coach Ruoh Jie Koh this is still an opportunity to improve and make a step forward for his programme. "I think the only way to get better is to play with the strongest teams, so I think that's what we are here for, to keep playing with the strongest teams and to break through," he said. "Hopefully, we can win a couple of games here, or play even close games with these strong teams, to show where we are at this point of time."

He also mentioned his team is prepared and ready to face strong competition from the top teams. "I think the level of competition was very high at the World Cup, our guys were watching it and they know what they are going to face, so I think mentally they are ready for that. Singapore's goal for this tournament is to play good softball and have a couple of good games." 

Australia, world champions in 2022, are also focusing on developing young players for the years to come. "We brought a very young team. Primarily focusing on developing players that quite possibly will be in the U-23 World Cup next year. We brought some experience, but also a lot of youth to try and give them an opportunity to play at an international level," said Mike Titheradge, head coach of the Aussie Steelers.

"However, the emphasis is still to get the outcome and give our players an opportunity. We're still here to win, but there's a significant amount of experience that we haven't got here. So our mindset as a coaching group is to develop and allow the players to get a taste for international softball, which ultimately is going to benefit us in 2029 [Men's Softball World Cup]. We just want to put a good foot forward, represent our country with pride, and make sure that the Aussie Steelers brand is showcased to the world."