A second trip to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls' softball facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, this year for Knights rising senior Katie Burge proved fruitful once more.
For the sixth consecutive season, Burge will play summer international softball with Great Britain, the country of her family's heritage. Her selection was made official by the British Softball Federation's Monday afternoon roster announcement.
"Both my mom and my dad are from England, they both grew up in London, and basically my whole family is from there," Burge said. "All my grandparents are from there, my grandma's from Scotland. Everyone's British. [My immediate family members are] the only ones who live in America."
The news of Burge's inclusion with the country of her family's descent comes after she spent four days in Stillwater last week competing in the trials held at Cowgirl Stadium in order to once again make the team with which she's been playing since she was 15 years old.
"I like to represent my British heritage, and I love going over there and playing with people I don't get to see that often," Burge added. "I only see them once a year for the tournament, but I just love the people on the team. I'm proud to be British, and so getting to represent Great Britain in softball is super cool. And I like seeing how proud my parents are of getting to represent the country they're from."
The utility player will now set her sights on traveling with her team, led by head coach Tara Henry, to Dublin, Ireland, to compete in World Cup Pool A, where Great Britain will also meet the United States, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Botswana and Ireland next month.
Burge returns to the team after helping lead Great Britain to a silver medal last season in the 2022 European Women's Championship, a second-place finish that clinched the team's spot in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Softball World Cup.
In 28 at-bats, marking the second-most on the team during last summer's tournament, Burge hit an impressive .393/.379/.750 (11-for-28) with a 1.129 OPS, a team-best five triples, 21 total bases and seven RBI.
Per the official announcement release, Burge will also be joined on Team Great Britain by 11 other returners from last season, including South Florida alum and current Athletes Unlimited X pitcher Georgina Corrick, 2022 RBI leader Kendyl Scott, and 2022 stolen base leader and Oklahoma State commit Tia Warsop.
The squad will first begin training and preparation camp in the United Kingdom July 2 before playing a two-game exhibition series against the Women's Professional Fastpitch League's Oklahoma City Spark. The series marks an historic event by itself, as no professional softball team has ever played in the United Kingdom.
"[I love] being able to go all around the world and visit places I probably would've never visited. I've been to probably 15 countries in Europe, and without Great Britain softball I probably would've never gone to them," Burge continued. "And I love the team, they're hilarious and I love seeing them."
The team will later compete for its spot in the WBSC Softball World Cup, though Henry has her sights set even higher.
"Great Britain will be ready to compete at the WBSC Softball World Cup," she said in the official release, "but this is just one more step to put Great Britain in the top echelon of softball teams in the world and prepare for the potential to compete for a spot in LA2028."