WICHITA, Kan. - For the first time in program history a Wichita State softball student-athlete will represent the Shockers on the U.S. Women's National Team. USA Softball announced Wednesday evening that Sydney McKinney has been added to the roster for the upcoming Japan All-Star Series.

McKinney and the U.S. Women's National Team will face the Japan National Team in a three-game series August 6-9 in Fukushima/Yokohama, Japan. The Norborne, Mo., native has been active this summer spending time playing for Team Alliance, while also earning a Silver medal at the Canada Cup as a member of Triple Crown Colorado. McKinney and TC Colorado defeated the U.S. Women's National Team twice before falling to USWNT in the championship game.

A 15-player roster that includes only one Team USA veteran, a total of six athletes will wear the Red, White and Blue for the first time in their careers in addition to one member from the Tokyo 2020 roster, five members from the Canada Cup roster and three members from the World Games roster. Loaded with 14 student-athletes from the 2022 season and one former student athlete, members of the Japan All-Star Series roster highlight five athletic conferences: Pac-12 (five athletes), Big 12 (five athletes), AAC (two athletes), SEC (two athletes) and ACC (one athlete) who represent ten NCAA Division I universities with Oklahoma tallying four athletes followed by UCLA with three athletes and Arizona, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Texas, UCF, Washington and Wichita State each represented by one athlete apiece.

Following a series of practice sessions August 2-5, the world-ranked No. 1 Team USA and No. 2 Japan will kick off the three-game series on Saturday, August 6 at 7 p.m. Japan Time followed by a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday, August 7 and a 7 p.m. series cap on Monday, August 8. Live stats and streaming will be announced at the later date.