USA Baseball has announced its women's national team coaching staff, which will continue to be led by manager Veronica Alvarez. The five-time USA international will have the opportunity to manage for the fourth time. Alvarez will be joined by pitching coach Reynol Mendoza and assistant coaches Alex Oglesby and Malaika Underwood.

The team will lead Team USA in the finals of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup from 28 July to 3 August in Thunder Bay, Ontario. "We are thrilled to welcome Veronica, Alex, Malaika and Reynol back to the 2024 coaching staff," said Ann Claire Roberson, Director of the Women's National Team Program. 

"This staff has done an outstanding job getting us to this point, and we are fortunate to have them in our dugout as we pursue a World Championship this summer in Thunder Bay."

Last year, Alvarez's staff led the USA to a perfect 5-0 record in the opening round of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Team USA outscored their opponents 71-2 in the five games, batting .385 as a team and posting a collective ERA of 0.48. 

They led all teams in Group A in most statistical categories, including runs, hits (51), home runs (five), ERA and strikeouts (29), and were one of only two undefeated teams in the two groups. 

Alvarez, who made his managerial debut in 2019, will return to the helm for a fourth time in 2024. Including last summer's unbeaten run, her overall record at the helm of the programme is 15-2. In her debut year, she became the first woman to win USA Baseball's Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year award, and her team was named USA Baseball's 2019 Team of the Year.

Alvarez was in charge again in 2022 when the USA swept a five-game friendship series against Canada in Thunder Bay, Ontario. After the Stars and Stripes went undefeated in 2023, Alvarez received the "Doc" Counsilman Science Award for using information from PDP Performance Assessments and Rapsodo to select the 20-player roster.

Alvarez has also played for Team USA five times. As a player, she has won medals in every international competition she has participated in, including a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, a silver medal at the 2012 WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, and bronze medals at the 2008 and 2010 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Women's Baseball World Cups.

"Every year that I have the opportunity to lead these phenomenal players through development and competition, the significance grows. Each year we have raised the standard of what it means to wear the U-S-A letters on your chest, and this year is no different," said Alvarez.

Alvarez, who currently serves as the Oakland A's Coordinator of Player Development in Latin America, has also continued to help grow the game of women's baseball through programs created as a result of the collaboration between Major League Baseball and USA Baseball to develop the next generation of female baseball players in the United States.

The USA Baseball Women's National Team has medaled in six of the eight WBSC Women's Baseball World Cups. The 2024 Women's National Team training camp will be held in Minneapolis, USA, from 16-20 July. Team USA will then train in Minneapolis from 21-26 July before opening the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Final on 28 July against Venezuela in Thunder Bay, Canada.