Lauren Chamberlain, who smacked the most home runs in NCAA softball history, has retired one year before the sport returns to the Olympics in Tokyo.
“I’m officially announcing my retirement, and I never thought that I would say those words,” she said on ESPN at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. “But unfortunately, I can only go as far as my body will let me, and it’s just not letting me go any further.”
Chamberlain, 25, smacked 95 home runs while at the University of Oklahoma from 2012 to 2015, but she never played on a U.S. team at a world championship. Shoulder and back surgeries the last two years set back a potential bid to make the 15-woman Olympic team.
She was one of 43 players invited to try out for this year’s national team but did not make the cut of 18 in January. The 2020 Olympic roster will be 15 players. Selection trials will be held in the fall.
Two pitchers with Olympic experience are the most notable names on the current national team -- 2004 and 2008 Olympian Cat Osterman and 2008 Olympian Monica Abbott.
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