Ava Justman to Return to Israel Women's National Softball Team

One of the UCF softball team’s newest additions will once again don the blue, gray and white in representation of her family’s heritage this summer.

Left-hander Ava Justman, one of the Knights’ most recent transfer signings during the offseason from Wisconsin, will return to the Israeli Women’s National Team roster for the third consecutive summer to partake in competition during this week’s International Softball Championship Canada Cup.

After playing an exhibition game Sunday against Team Canada, Justman and her teammates will square off against Greece and TC Colorado as part of Monday’s Round Robin opener. Israel will then meet Japan and Mexico on Tuesday, Italy on Wednesday, Canada on Thursday, and Australia A on Friday. The seeding for this weekend’s championship playoff rounds will be determined by the teams’ showings throughout the week.

“It’s important to me because being able to wear Israel across my chest and represent the country means a lot to me not only as a person but for my family,” Justman said. “Being able to represent as a woman who is independent and strong and athletic, I just really want little girls out in Israel to know that they can get there to that point one day.”

Justman is eligible for inclusion with the team as a result of her family’s Jewish background, and with a handful of team officials hailing from Justman’s home state of California, she landed on their radar with help from a friend from high school and now-fellow Israeli teammate, Ruby Salzman, who recently completed her fifth year as an outfielder at West Texas A&M.

“Both my parents are Jewish, and they reached out to me three and a half to four years ago,” Justman continued. “The head guy, his name is Ami Baran, he had just reached out to my dad and was like, ‘Hey, I heard you guys are Jewish, we love Ava, she’s a complete baller and we’d love for her to come out to our training camp out in Las Vegas.’ I said, ‘Yeah of course.’”

The rising junior received the opportunity to play in Italy during her first summer with Team Israel before heading to Barcelona in her second go-around last summer. During her third season starting this week, Justman and her teammates will compete in the Canada Cup in Vancouver. 

“My favorite part is being able to play against people who are not only way older than me and have so much experience, but also to see how important this sport is to people worldwide,” she added. “Softball deserves to be high up on the stage and shown off, and I just really want this sport to grow. Being able to play against people all over the world who love it just as much as I do if not more, it’s just amazing to me.”

Wearing the colors in representation of her family’s heritage would be special enough, but Justman also received the chance to travel to Israel for the first time three summers ago, an eye-opening experience during which she met with kids and saw what softball and baseball looks like in the country.

Her family originally took the trip to make official their Israeli citizenships, and she also had a week’s worth of practice time during her first summer with the National Team before departing for Italy.

“Being able to see the fields and then also people seeing us practice, they would come over, they knew who we were, they were so honored to be able to watch us, and it was just very eye-opening experience for me,” Justman said. “As much as I love playing softball out here, our fields are usually nice, it’s completely different in Israel. The fields aren’t as nice, and we are very privileged out here to have what we have in the U.S. Being able to see it from a different side in Israel was very eye-opening and made me really appreciate the sport even more." 

Justman and Team Israel have their sights set not only on a strong showing during next summer’s World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) European Championship, but also on an eventual qualification for the Olympics.

“It would mean the absolute world to me, being able to represent Israel as a country means so much to me not only because I have Jewish heritage,” she said, “but also because I really want to help grow the sport out in the country of Israel.”