Over the first few days of the USA Softball International Cup, we’ve seen some of the world’s best compete at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. The USA fields two teams in this event, the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Women’s Elite Team. Both will go head-to-head Sunday night, at 8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT on ESPN+.
With the top talent this country has to offer, there are only so many spots on the National Team. Everyone’s eyes are set on 2028, when the Olympics take place. Who can make the National Team roster between now and then?
One player I want to look at is Morgan Zerkle. Not only is Zerkle a great player, but she embodies what it means to be a leader. She leads the Thundering Herd softball program at Marshall University, where she also played.
From small-town beginnings in Milton, W.Va., to competing at the highest professional stage as a leader on the Chicago Bandits (AUSL) team, Zerkle has excelled. She is a “Boss Woman,” the name Bandits head coach Shonda Stanton often gives the players on her team. In the 2026 AUSL season, she hit .341/.408/.538 with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 16 RBIs, and 16 runs scored over 28 games for the Bandits.
On the field in the USA program, she’s been a consistent contributor over the years. During the ongoing International Cup, she’s been on fire for the Elite Team. Through three games, Zerkle is slashing .545/.545/1.364 with 2 home runs, 1 triple, 1 double, 7 RBIs and 4 runs scored.
In the Elite Team’s International Cup opener against Chinese Taipei, Zerkle hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. Later, she delivered a clutch two-out RBI double in the seventh to tie the game and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on Ana Gold’s home run in a 6-4 win.
A day later against American Samoa, she went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and 5 RBIs, capping the 10-3 run-rule victory with a walkoff two-RBI triple. Then, even in a tough loss to Japan, Zerkle went 1-for-3 with 1 run scored in a game where the Elite Team totaled 2 runs on 3 hits.
What Zerkle is doing now was almost impossible to imagine. During a summer 2025 interview, I asked Zerkle if she had ever dreamed of this as a kid.
“Definitely not. Where I’m at is a dream come true,” Zerkle said. “I don’t think young Morgan could have even dreamt this up, to play for a great university, and then to be coaching at her alma mater while also going into year nine of playing professionally. I just don’t think she would have any idea that’s her life and, in reality, so super super cool to be here.”
Prior to the Bandits’ appearance in the 2026 AUSL Championship Series in College Station, Texas, I asked Zerkle what she wanted her athletes at Marshall or any young player to take away from her experiences.
“I tell my athletes all the time, if you want to accomplish something, you can do it,” Zerkle said. “There’s so many examples on my Bandits team of people that didn’t play at a Texas A&M. Even Mac [Barbara], she ended up here, but she didn’t start her career here. So for my athletes specifically at Marshall, knowing that pro softball is a really awesome thing, and whatever college you go to, there’s a path for you to get here if you do the right stuff.”
Zerkle has done and continues to do it right. She is a model of trusting the process and believing that hard work pays off. There is a path to get where you want to be, and it starts with you.
