Photo: ASA/USA Softball

Photo: xgames.espn.go.com

While Abby Wambach and the US women's national soccer team were beating Japan in the World Cup, Amanda Chidester and the US national softball team took on Japan in the World Cup of Softball X Championship . In the seventh meeting of the teams at the World Cup, the US handily beat Japan 6-1, giving the US sevens wins at the World Cup in 10 years and bringing its all-time record against Japan in the World Cup to 5-2. Consider it revenge for the 2008 Olympics.2015 was the season of firsts for the Auburn Tiger softball program. The Tigers won their first SEC Tournament Title, first Regional, and first Super Regional while making their first Women's College World Series appearance. Second-year head coach — and now Hall of Fame coach — Clint Meyers deserves much credit for Auburn's recent success. Meyers brought with him a winning tradition that resulted in two WCWS Championships while he was the head coach at Arizona State. Under Meyers in 2015, the Tigers broke single-season records in nearly every major offensive category while also setting the schools win record with 56.The NPF has undergone several facelifts since its beginnings as the Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF) Tour in 1995. Rebranded as the National Pro Fastpitch league in 2002, the NPF reached seven teams in 2005 but from 2010 to 2014 only had four teams in the league. The 2015 brought with it the expansion Dallas Charge, which made the playoffs its inaugural season. Then on October 23, 2015, Dallas Charge General Manager Kevin Shelton announced that he would also be the General Manager of 2016's expansion team the Houston Scrap Yard Dawgs , brining the total number of teams in the NPF to six for 2016.[tweet url="https://twitter.com/FloSoftball/status/658003040188919808" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]Duke University announced to Duke Nation in 2013 that it was going to make softball its 27th varsity sport, but to the softball faithful in Durham it didn't become reality until the Blue Devils hired former Tar Heel assistant coach and standout pitcher at University of Michigan Marissa Young as its first head coach in late July 2015. Duke will play its first game in the spring of 2018, and Young says she will be "coming in guns blazing."[tweet url="https://twitter.com/Duke_SOFTBALL/status/626475920371654656" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]It was story-book, really. Lauren Chamberlain established herself in history as college softball's greatest home run hitter when she broke UCLA Stacey Nuveman's 13-year career home run record with a deep grand slam over the centerfield wall for her 91st home run . She tacked on four more home runs during her senior season to finish her career with 95. She hit 23 bombs in 2015, 12 as a junior, and 30 both her sophomore and freshmen seasons.2015 was the year of Haeger, that's why we named the second episode of our original documentary series on Florida softball that exact title. She won the following awards in 2015: USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year, SEC Female Athlete of the Year, SEC Pitcher of the Year, All-SEC First Team, NFCA All-Southeast Region First Team, 2015 WCWS Most Outstanding Player, NFCA First Team All-American, and the Honda Sports Award.She was also nominated for an ESPY in the categories of Best Female College Athlete and Best Championship Performance. If that wasn't enough, she solidified her legacy as the only player other than Babe Ruth to hit 70 career home runs and have 70 wins.In what has been dubbed by many as "The Year of Women" in sports, Jessica Mendoza's historic appointment as a regular broadcaster for "ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball" was a giant step for equality for women.After then-regular analyst Curt Schilling's suspension for an ill-advised tweet, Mendoza was named his replacement. She made history October 6, 2015 when she was the first woman to call a MLB playoff game when she sat alongside John Kruk and Dan Shulman to provide color commentary on the Houston Astros-New York Yankees American League Wild Card Game.When one of the greatest to ever step foot in the circle decides to hang it up — even if it is for the second time — it's a big deal. Osterman announced her retirement on her official website in May of 2015 and dubbed her last season in the NPF as her "Last Ride."Watch all three episodes of our original documentary "Cat Osterman: The Last Ride" chronicling her iconic career and last season.Osterman's career is legendary, holding almost every single career pitching record at her alma mater the University of Texas. She lives on in UT's history with a .51 ERA, 136 wins, 1,105.2 innings pitched, 85 shutouts, 20 solo no-hitters, 9 solo perfect games, and 2,264 strikeouts. Her professional career is just as impressive when her 8 seasons are compared to Nolan Ryan's and Roger Clemens' careers.[tweet url="https://twitter.com/iamjakenotu24/status/628376113404719104" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]Before Tim Walton, the Gators had never made it to Super Regionals and they had actually missed Regionals three seasons. In Walton's 10 years, the Gators have seven WCWS appearances, are two-time WCWS runner-up, and have two National Championships. What's even more impressive is that their titles are back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.Walton's Gators are the first team since Arizona in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back titles, and if they win in 2016, they will be the first team to three-peat since UCLA did it 1988-1990.Watch all three episodes of our original documentary "The Program: Florida" and relive the Gators' rise to national and SEC dominance.After being removed from the Olympic program for the 2012 London games, softball (in a joint bid with baseball) has its eye on Tokyo in 2020. After Tokyo officials voted for the inclusion of softball and baseball for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in September of 2015, we as fans have been getting more and more excited about Olympic softball becoming a reality. One final vote by IOC at the Rio session in August of 2016 stands between softball's historic return to the Olympics.[tweet url="https://twitter.com/ASAUSASoftball/status/628882727278739456" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]