Both men's and women's softball tournaments were conducted during World Games I. The games were played July 30 - August 2, 1981 at Central Park in Santa Clara, California. Teams from the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Chinese Taipei participated in the women's event, while in the men's event, the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Mexico were initially slated to appear. As the time of the Games approached, the Mexican team withdrew for financial reasons and was replaced by a second team from the United States.
All three U.S. teams were intact successful high-level softball teams, well known in the U.S. softball community. The Raybestos Brakettes club from Connecticut was the women's team. United States I, the original selection for the Games, was the Peterbilt team from Seattle, Washington. After Mexico's decision, the Guanella Brothers team from Santa Rosa, California was engaged in the role of United States II.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Kathy Arendsen pitched four shutouts for the U.S. women, culminating in a perfect game in the championship final.[12]
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
Kathy Arendsen Cloutier Doreen Dedmon Sue Enquist Missy Mapes Reinalda Diane Schumacher Anne Trachuck others . . . . . . . . . . . . | Ford A. Knowles Patti Polych Storey-Gray Wegner others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Izzard B. Knowles Moxey Cynthia A. Pratt Turnquest Walker Welle others . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
Round-robin phase:
| width=170 | Team | width=20 | W | width=20 | L | width=20 | RS | width=20 | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 1 | 5 |
Each team played two games per day for three days, followed by a championship game between the top two teams in the standing.
Thursday, July 30, 1981:
Canada 4, Bahamas 3
United States 1, Chinese Taipei 0
United States 4, Bahamas ?
Chinese Taipei d. Canada
Friday, July 31, 1981:
Bahamas 5, Chinese Taipei 2
United States 3, Canada 0
Canada 2, Bahamas 1
United States 2, Chinese Taipei 0[13]
Saturday, August 1, 1981:
Canada 2, Chinese Taipei 1
United States d. Bahamas
United States 8, Canada 0
Bahamas d. Chinese Taipei
Sunday, August 2, 1981:
Championship game -- United States 3, Canada 0 (perfect game by Arendsen)
Other known individual participants: TPE – Feng-Yuan, Lih-Ju, Sub-Shain
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| II Ray Allena Rich Balswick Peter Brown Wes Crandell Chuck D'Arcy Bobby Dallas Jim Marsh Zeke McDowell Mike Nevin Mike Parnow Dallas Rountree John Topolewski others . . . . . . . . . | I Batt Mike Bishop Dick Brubaker Mark Lee Dennis Mackinin Moore Bill Stewart Tim Sullivan Greg Vangaver others . . . . . . . . . . . . | Boland Serse Bourque Boyroye Cooke Gosselin Guenter Healy Henderson Hunt Kernagham Putnam others . . . . . . . . . . |
Round-robin phase:
| width=170 | Team | width=20 | W | width=20 | L | width=20 | RS | width=20 | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 5 | 1 | 23 | 9 | |||||
| II | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 0 | 6 |
Each team played two games per day for three days, followed by a championship game between the top two teams in the standing.
Thursday, July 30, 1981:
United States II 3, Bahamas 0
United States I 2, Canada 1
United States I 8, Bahamas 0
United States II vs. Canada
Friday, July 31, 1981:
Canada 4, Bahamas 3 (9 inn.)
United States I 3, United States II 1
United States II 3, Bahamas 1
United States I 4, Canada 3 (10 inn.)
Saturday, August 1, 1981:
United States I 5, Bahamas 1
United States II vs. Canada
United States II 3, United States I 1
Canada d. Bahamas
Note: Canada and United States II split the two games between them.
Sunday, August 2, 1981:
Championship game -- United States II 3, United States I 0
Other known individual participants: BAH – Bethel, Butler, Clarke, Ford, Russell, D Smith