By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The leading scorer and rebounder on the Villa Madonna Academy girls’ basketball team will be out of the lineup for a few days next month so she can play a different sport in another country.
Junior forward Brooke Meier is traveling to Europe to play in The Cup, an international fast-pitch softball tournament scheduled for Jan. 12-14 in Schiedam, Netherlands.
Sixteen teams from four countries will take part in the 18th annual event with all the games played on an indoor field.
“I’m excited because I’ve never played (a softball tournament) indoors and I’ve never played overseas,” said Meier, who will be on the Arsenal United team. “I’ll see when I get over there where they put me on the field.”
Meier is currently averaging 7.5 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Villa Madonna basketball team, but softball has always been her best sport.
She was named Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Division III Player of the Year after the 2015 and 2016 softball seasons. Last year, she was voted first-team all-conference by local coaches once again after posting impressive statistics as a pitcher and hitter.
Her pitching record was 12-11 with 200 strikeouts and a 1.81 earned run average. At the plate, she batted .513 with three home runs, 37 stolen bases and 42 runs scored for the Blue Lightning.
The player’s father, David Meier, is head coach of Villa Madonna’s softball team. He and his wife, Jen, will be accompanying their daughter on the trip to the international tournament.
“Of course, seeing Brooke have an opportunity to play this type of competition in The Cup is exciting,” the father said. “As her dad, I love watching her play and chasing her dream of playing (softball) in college. Brooke is very competitive, and Jen and I are very proud of her for how hard she has worked toward her goals.”
Six teams from the United States and eight from the Netherlands will be playing in the indoor tournament. The other two teams are from Great Britain and the Czech Republic.
Each team will play three games in pool play and their records will decide how they’re seeded in the single-elimination tournament bracket. Live stream videos and box scores will be posted on The Cup website every day.
The Arsenal United roster has eight players from six states and one from the Netherlands. Meier is one of two pitchers on the team so she expects to be playing another position in some games.
“We have team group chats (online) where we stay in touch and kind of get to know each other before we go over,” she said. “But we’ll all basically be playing with eight other people we’ve never met before.”
During the three-day tournament, Meier and her parents plan to visit the city of Amsterdam between games. After the tournament ends, they will take a bus to Paris and spend three days touring that historic city and the surrounding area in France.
The trip offers all of them a chance to experience the history, culture and cuisine of two European countries while also enhancing Brooke’s recruiting resume.
“She has some important decisions to make about college when she returns from the trip, beginning with a recruiting visit to Urbana University (in Ohio),” her father said. “We are eager to see what doors The Cup opens up for Brooke going forward.”