Natasha Watley has mastered softball on every level she has played and competed in; from travel ball from a very young age, all the way through her professional career by taking home a gold medal from the 2004 Olympics & a silver medal from 2008 Olympics.
During the 2004 Olympics, Watley, assisted the US Softball Team on their third consecutive gold medal in Athens, by breaking the Olympic record for stolen bases, and was third on the team with a .400 batting average, with 9 hits and 10 RBI. During the 2008 Olympics, Watley hit .321 in the leadoff position with two home runs and six RBIs.
Also internationally, Watley is a two –time Pan American Gold Medalist (2003 & 2007), three-time World Champion (2002, 2006, 2010), and a four-time World Cup Champion (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010).
As a four-time All- American short stop, Watley, led her UCLA softball team to three straight Woman’s College World Series and the NCAA Divsion 1 Softball Championship title in 2003. She was awarded the Honda- Broderick Cup for top collegiate female athlete, as well as PAC 10 Player of the Year award, in 2003. She was a starter for the Bruins all four years and finished top three in career his (395), top five in career runs (252), top ten in career batting average (.450) and top ten in career stolen bases (158). Watley holds the single season record for hits (112) and is currently ranked fourth in Pac- 10 history; as well as seventh on the all –time NCAA record books with 112 hits in a single season.
In Watley’s high school years, she was named second team Louisville Slugger All- American. She hit over .445 in her last three seasons of high school softball, in addition to stealing over 20 bases stolen each season.
Though, she was a superstar on the softball field, Watley managed to balance her education, and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and a minor in Afro- American Studies from UCLA. She received her Masters Degree in Business from Saint Leo University.
Currently Natasha Watley is playing professionally in Japan for Team Toyota, competing in the National Professional Fastpitch league with the USSSA Pride.
The Natasha Watley brand is expanding daily. Natasha runs many camps and clinics throughout the nation, has an instructional DVD on the market titled “The Art of Slapping”, and sponsors a 12U Team Watley, in Southern California. Watley is very concerned with the development of today’s youth and cares deeply for underprivileged children.
The Natasha Watley Foundation (NWF) is her newest expansion; which is a public, non profit, national community service organization. Watley uses NWF as a vehicle to help bring the sport of softball to young girls in the nation’s inner cities. The foundation provides an opportunity for young women to compete in leagues and on teams when financial resources are limited; and provides a positive alternative to the every day struggles they may endure in the inner cities.
