Olympics Bound

USF coach Ken Eriksen was named an assistant coach for the women’s national softball team in the 2003 Pan american games and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Eriksen’s appointment is recognition for his role in guiding South Florida softball to a 54-19 record in 2003 and a national ranking of No. 19. Eriksen, as well as John Rittman of Stanford, will serve as assistant coach to Arizona’s Mike Candrea.

The appointment will be Eriksen’s third year with the national team, after serving as head coach to the gold-medal winning 2001 Pan Am team and as an assistant in 2002.

“I think that this is great recognition of what our program has done at USF over the past five, six, seven years now,” Eriksen said in a news release. “This is a nice accolade for both our team and our school.”

Eriksen’s immediate goal with the national team will be a victory at the U.S. Cup June 19-22 at Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is likely to come up against 2002 USF graduate Ginny Georgantasis when Greece and Team USA clash.

Like Eriksen, Georgantasis also has Olympic expectations. A member of the Greek National team, she is expected to participate for the host nation during the Olympics.

The former Bull is No. 2 all-time at USF in games played (265), No. 3 in hits (225) and No. 2 in assists (488).

During the young off-season, the current edition of the Bulls also made a splash.

2002 Sickles High graduate Tiffany Stewart transferred to USF from North Carolina to play in the 2004 season.

Stewart started in 22 of the Tar Heels’ 63 games, posting a .154 batting average while swiping four of six stolen base attempts.

“We’re fortunate to get a quality player like Tiffany to come to USF,” Eriksen said. “Her athletic ability will definitely help give us the depth that we need to compete at the national level.”