While most Green Mountain sports fans are focused on the Vermonters competing at the Summer Olympics in Paris, there is another international tournament this week with local intrigue. Shelburne’s Elise Berger, a recent graduate of Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, where she was a multisport standout, will pitch today for the U.S. Women’s National Team against Chinese Taipei in the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Berger, a right-handed pitcher and infielder was a standout for the CVU baseball team, but her athletic prowess extends beyond the diamond. She was named “Miss Basketball” by the Burlington Free Press for the 2023-24 season, an award given annually to the state’s best female player since 1991. In the fall, she’ll attend Bard College in Red Hook, N.Y, where she’ll be the first woman to play for the school’s Division III baseball team.
Pitching for the USWNT in 2023, Berger posted a 2-0 record with a 1.45 earned run average. Last year in a game against Mexico, she posted four shutout innings with just one hit and picked up three strikeouts to secure the win.
“You never know exactly what you’re going to get with baseball, but last year she was almost unhittable,” said Craig Durham, a Montpelier resident and play-by-play announcer for both Norwich University ice hockey and the WBWC.
On Tuesday, the U.S. beat Canada 13-4 in a rematch of last year’s bronze medal game to remain undefeated in the tournament. On Thursday, the Americans will face six-time World Cup champion Japan, also currently undefeated. The tourney’s medal round will be held this Saturday, August 3.
The Women’s Baseball World Cup is streaming at gametime.sport. A full tournament pass is $12.99.
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