
By Patrick Lujan
She’s the leader of the ‘little sister’ team, but boy, did she show up the big sisters.
Madi ‘Bubba’ Nickles is the most senior player of the USA Junior Women’s National Team and what she did against the world’s best softball teams in the World Cup of Softball XII in Oklahoma City this past week was absolutely remarkable.
Against the best in the world, Bubba did the following in the six games she played against USA, Canada, Australia, Philippines and Puerto Rico twice:
.550 batting average (led the tournament)
1.050 slugging (led the tournament)
1.621 OPS (led the tournament)
2 home runs (tied for most in the tournament)
10 RBI (led the tournament)
Asked if she expected to have quite the performance, Bubba told GSPN, “No I didn’t.”
“In all honesty, I was hitting one-on-one with (UCLA coach and softball legend) Lisa Fernandez for about three hours. Everything she taught me in those three hours was on my mind the whole tournament. I was literally paying attention to pitcher’s tendencies and what pitches they’d throw in certain pitch counts and in the end, it helped out studying the opposing pitchers.”
Talk about dialed in!
“Every time I go up to bat, I just have this mentality that they don’t look at me as a little sister. I know my team is just as good as any of those teams in the tournament and we deserve the respect.”
At 19-years-old, Bubba is the only player on the Junior team with international experience…all others are first timers.
As the team leader, her focus was building team confidence.
“We all deserve to be on that field and compete against the best teams. At the end of the day, we did earn their respect from the different teams.”
The Junior team would take 5th place out of the eight teams, which included the top four teams in the world (Japan, USA, Canada, Australia).
The top-ranked team from Japan won its second straight World Cup title with a 2-1 win over #2 USA.
SHORTSTOP
“I’ve always been a middle infielder the past two years (with the Junior Nationals), they seem to be more confident putting me at shortstop. Where ever they put me, I’m just gonna give it my all. I’m getting used to it again because I haven’t played shortstop in a year.”
NEXT UP
After this awesome performance, Bubba and her team will head to Clearwater, Florida for the Junior World Championships (19-below) from July 24-30 where they are considered favorites to win the gold.
All the while, Nickles appreciates the support she gets from Guam. “I love all the support from my homeland from so far away.”


Foody’s Fun Facts
Foody’s Fun Facts with Makayla Atoigue
ND Royals Rugby Player Makayla Atoigue lays down her Foody’s Fun Facts and shares her dream vacation spot
GPS Sports Calendar
May 2022
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for May
2nd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET #4
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
3rd
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA RUGBY LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL QUARTERFINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
5th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
6th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
7th
GPD HOT PURSUIT 5K
MARIANAS OPEN
ISA MIDDLE SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD
ISA RUGBY LEAGUE
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Events for May
9th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET #5
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
10th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER All-Star Meeting
IIAAG GIRLS BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG GIRLS SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL FINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
10th
Events for May
12th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS VOLLEYBALL ALL-ISLAND MEETING
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
12th
Events for May
14th
14th JUDICA CRABAO 5K
ISA MIDDLE SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD
ISA RUGBY LEAGUE
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA GIRLS SOCCER FINALS
Events for May
16th
ISA TRACK & FIELD ALL-ISLAND MEET
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE All-Star Meeting
Events for May
17th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
18th
ISA RUGBY LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
IIAAG GIRLS MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Events for May
19th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
20th
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL All-Star Meeting
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
21st
Pre-Memorial Day 13-Miler
GETTING GUAM HEALTHY 5K BUBBLE RUN/HEALTH FAIR
ISA MIDDLE SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD All-ISLAND MEET
ISA RUGBY LEAGUE FINALS
ALPHA WARRIOR ESPORTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE FINALS
2022 Guam Track & Field National Championships
Events for May
23rd
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
24th
Events for May
26th
ISA BOYS VOLLEYBALL FINALS
GUAM MAJOR LEAGUE
Events for May
27th
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Events for May
29th
Events for May
30th

Volleyball
VOLLEYBALL ALL-STAR PLAYERS DRAFTED

Volleyball
TITANS COMPLETE PERFECT 2022 SEASON

Volleyball
VOLLEYBALL ALL-STAR PLAYERS DRAFTED

Baseball
DODGERS HAND TRITONS FIRST LOSS

Volleyball
TITANS COMPLETE PERFECT 2022 SEASON
Foody’s Fun Facts
Foody’s Fun Facts with Makayla Atoigue
ND Royals Rugby Player Makayla Atoigue lays down her Foody’s Fun Facts and shares her dream vacation spot
Foody’s Fun Facts
Foody’s Fun Facts with Makayla Atoigue
ND Royals Rugby Player Makayla Atoigue lays down her Foody’s Fun Facts and shares her dream vacation spot
COMING SOON …
- YOUTH FOOTBALL LEAGUE KICKOFF June 4
- Todd Gurley Football Camp on Andersen
- GSPN Boys Volleyball All-Star Game
- Pacific Mini-Games in Saipan