Aug. 4, 2008

BEIJING – Oklahoma City University softball will be represented in the Olympics by three-time NAIA all-American Tracey Mosley of Australia and signee Desiree Mujica of Venezuela.

Mosley is one of four former OCU softball players who have helped their countries win Olympic medals. Mosley was a part of Australia’s silver medal-winning team in the 2002 Olympics, while Sue Fairhurst helped Australia to the bronze in 2000. Cindy Yan Fang and Christie Liu Xuqing helped China to the silver in 1996.

Other athletes with OCU ties selected as Olympic alternates were former OCU wrestling assistant coach Tyrone Lewis, who was coached by OCU’s Archie Randall, Kristie Marano, who will be a volunteer assistant coach for the OCU wrestling program and rower Cody Lowry, an OCU graduate and former graduate assistant coach.

Mosley, from Adelaide, South Australia, helped OCU win NAIA national championships in 1994 and 1995 and set the NAIA single-season record with 29 home runs as a senior. Mosley holds school records for single-season and career home runs and single-season batting average.

“She was confident,” McSpadden said of Mosley. “Tell her she can’t do something, she would say, ‘I’ll show you.’ It was unfathomable for her to be off. She had all the skills. She had the best hands of anybody I coached.”

For Australia, Mosley has been a part of Australia’s 2006 Canada Cup-winning team. Mosley has played first base, but has switched to catcher for this year’s games. Mosley only played one game at catcher during her OCU career, but earned the Top Catcher Award in the Canada Cup this summer.

“I loved playing softball there,” Mosley said of OCU. “I love the city. I really missed it. I loved playing for Phil. Phil was like a father.”

McSpadden said Mosley and Fang may be the two best he’s coached.

“Most of the players would say that they saw them do things that made them say, ‘I couldn’t have done that one,’ ” McSpadden said. “It’s a different level when you talk about those kids. It would probably come down to those two, but it would be a hard pick.”

Mosley played third base for OCU, calling herself “The Wall” and betting McSpadden to hit a ball past her in practice.

“Playing with Tracey Mosley was like playing on the same team as a tornado,” said Moose Tyler, a former teammate of Mosley’s. “She sucked everything up within a mile radius of third base and made it look effortless. She’d always pull through in a clutch. She was an incredible teammate on and off the field.”

Mujica joins the Stars after spending two years with Southeastern Iowa. Mujica earned second-team NJCAA all-American honors after hitting .456 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs last year as a sophomore.

“It’s a compliment that she made the national team at 18,” McSpadden said. “She has an above average arm, above average foot speed and good hands. Her hitting is her strong suit. She will strengthen us.”

Mujica is part of the first women’s team to represent Venezuela in the Olympics. Venezuela took the final Olympic softball spot by beating Puerto Rico in a best-of-three series in Valencia, Venezuela.

“The key thing was that the team stayed together throughout,” Mujica said. “This was one of the reasons for our success.”