ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT

Plans are being finalized for Selma High School to retire softball standout Andrea Duran’s uniform number two.

A ceremony will be held during the Bears’ Sept. 8 home football opener with McLane High School at Staley Stadium. That will also be Back to School night for the Wright Street school.

Plans for the jersey retirement ceremony are still being finalized, according to Selma High School Athletic Director Randy Esraelian.

Just before the ceremony, the former Selma High School and UCLA softball standout will be returning from Beijing and the ISF World Championship, which will be held from Aug. 27 to Sept. 5.

The International Softball Federation (ISF) has announced the schedule for the XI Women’s World Championship. USA Softball, who has won the past five ISF World Championships, opens play on Aug. 27 against Italy, the same opponent it met in its opener at the 2004 Olympic Games. This event marks the debut of the new softball venue built for the 2008 Games in Beijing and will serve as an official Olympic test event.

The upcoming World Championship will not only crown the world’s best, but it will also qualify four teams for the 2008 Olympic Softball competition. Eight games will be played each of the first seven days at the XI Women’s World Championship, as round robin play takes place in the main stadium and an adjacent facility.

A total of 16 countries will be vying for the world championship and have been split into two pools of eight, with USA landing in pool A along with Canada, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, DPR Korea, Great Britain and China. Pool B will consist of Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Venezuela, Netherlands, Botswana and Columbia. Four teams from each of the pools will advance to the playoffs beginning on Sept. 3.

During the weekend of July 28-30, Duran played a key role in two of the US National Team’s four exhibition victories over the Houston Thunder.

In her tenure at UCLA, Duran established herself as one of the most explosive offensive forces in Bruin history, setting both single-season and career records. In her senior season, she led the team in almost every offensive category, including batting average (.355), hits (70), triples (7) and RBIs (42). Duran, whose favorite softball moment was winning the 2003 College World Series, started playing softball at the age of 10 when her father made her tryout for a travel team.

At Selma High School, she was a four-time most valuable player in softball. She was named a first team ASA all-American in 2001, and was a Cal-High all-state selection as a freshman with the Bears.

She was a four-time first-team all-league selection, and held CIF Central Section records for career batting average (.558); career (206), single-season (63) and single-game hits; career (149) and single-season (53) runs scored; and career stolen bases (154).