OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — USA Softball head coach Heather Tarr has announced the addition of Utah Valley University head softball coach Cody Thomson to her coaching staff for the upcoming Pan American Games, set to be held in Santiago, Chile. The Pan American Games begin October 20, and the softball tournament will run from October 29 to November 4.
"We are excited to add Cody Thomson to the Pan-Am Games staff," said Coach Tarr, who is also the head coach of the Washington Huskies' softball team. "He's worked with us this past summer and his availability will be key for our pitchers. His experience with USA Softball is something we value and we look forward to seeing how good we can get with Cody on our staff."
Thomson will serve as the pitching coach for the women's national team that is looking to repeat as Pan Am gold medalists and win its 10th Pan Am gold overall. The 16-player roster features athletes from 11 different Power 5 programs. Among those players is UCLA alum Ally Carda, who was teammates with UVU associate head coach Sam Kukuk from 2012-2015.
"I couldn't be more excited to represent my country and the game of softball at the Pan American games," said Thomson. "I'm grateful to Coach Tarr and USA Softball for giving me this amazing opportunity."
Thomson had previously joined the Team USA Softball support staff earlier this year as the team's batting practice pitcher. Thomson traveled to Florida for the U.S. Women's FastPitch Camp in June, then joined Team USA in Ireland for the pool play of the WBSC World Cup in Dublin in July.
Thomson returns to the US National Team after enjoying a 14-year playing career in fastpitch softball as a pitcher that included a stint as a member of USA Men's National Team. He helped the team to a second-place finish at the ISF Men's World Cup in Prague, going 2-0 with 18 strikeouts in the circle. He was also named Best Pitcher at the NAFA World Series in 2006 and was a four-time ASA All-American.
In his two seasons at Utah Valley, Thomson has produced three All-WAC selections in Linnah Rebolledo, Madison Carr, and Megan Gibbs. Rebolledo has also gone on to join the Mexican National Softball Team. His teams have also seen tremendous success in the classroom, including 14 Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athletes, 19 Academic All-WAC honorees, and three CSC Academic All-District recipients.
Prior to becoming the head coach at Utah Valley, Thomson had been with the University of Utah softball program since 2005 and was part of the program's transition into the Pac 12. He was elevated to a full-time assistant in 2009 and had been in that role for 12 seasons.
Several players experienced tremendous success during Thomson's time at Utah, including two-time Pac 12 Player of the Year Hannah Flippen (2016 & 2017), who also was named an NFCA First-Team All-American. He helped coach 32 All-Pac 12 players during his time in Salt Lake City. At Utah, Thomson also coached 15 NFCA All-Pacific Region players, a three-time All-American, and members of the USA, Mexican, and British National Teams. That list includes three-time All-Pac 12 honoree Anissa Urtez, who was on UVU's coaching staff in 2019.
ABOUT USA SOFTBALL
The Women's National Team (WNT) is the most decorated program in the sport's history with five Olympic medal finishes, nine Pan American Games gold medals and 12 WBSC World Championship gold medals. Team USA has advanced to every Olympic gold medal game in the history of the sport, claiming three consecutive Olympic gold medals at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games and two Olympic silver medals at the 2008 and 2020 Olympic Games. Softball will return to the Olympic Games at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
