TEAM USA CHAMPION: Steuerwald helps U-15 win title a week after guiding Gaston College to World Series

There's no rest for the weary, particularly when you are Gaston College softball coach Mike Steuerwald.

A day after the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series ended, Steuerwald boarded a plane bound for Japan to continue his duties as a Team USA National Softball team coach.

Team USA U-15 team made the sleep-deprived Steuerwald a tournament champion the first week of June with a 3-0 record in the 2023 Utusgi Cup that was capped by a 1-0 championship game victory over host Japan.

Pitcher Macie Bryant fired a perfect game in the 6-inning contest and recorded 12 strikeouts.

The winning run scored on Madelyn Armendariz's stolen base of home in the top of the sixth inning, then Bryant struck out the side in the bottom of the frame.

Bryant's pitching ended a 2-day stretch of shutout pitching in three victories as Team USA batted a cumulative .364 with 20 hits while outscoring its opponents 14-0; Earlier in the tournament, Team USA beat Italy 3-0 and China 10-0.

Aspen Boulware (.833 average), Stevie South (.571) and Anabela Abdullah (.429) led the Team USA offense and Bryant, Lily Pullen and Taegan Lermann combined for 27 strikeouts while yielding no runs and four hits.

Bryant was named MVP for her two pitching victories and 20 strikeouts.

The U-15 team returns to action in October at the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, an event it qualified for earlier this year at a gold medal-winning run through the 2023 U-15 Pan American Championship.

Steuerwald, whose return flight to Charlotte lasted 41 hours due to several delays, guided Gaston College to a 43-10 overall record, Region 10 and Mid-Atlantic tournament championships and 13th-place finish in the World Series in Oxford, Ala.