VICTORIA, Australia - The 2008 Australian Olympic softball team roster has been released and two Rainbow Wahine will be playing in August in Beijing. Pitcher Justine Smethurst and former Hawai`i All-American, Stacey Porter, were both selected to the 15-player squad.

Smethust, a two-time all-WAC selection, would've been in her junior season this year. She took the semester off to pursue her lifelong dream of playing in the Olympics. Her efforts have paid off with her becoming the third Rainbow Wahine softball player to don the green and gold for Australia in the Olympics. She follows in the footsteps of former UH great, Brooke Wilkins, who recently retired after playing for the Australian national team for several years. This is the last year that the sport of softball will be played at the summer games.

Australian national coach Fabian Barlow is high on the selections made for this year's team that has a mixture of youth and experience. The 21-year-old Smethurst represents the 'youth' as she is the youngest on the squad. "Justine normally comes back for the (Australian) Nationals for a week each year and plays very well. This year she came back and played very, very well. She made her Olympic intentions known and it has paid dividends," Barlow said.

"It has been a dream of Justine's from when she was a child to play for Australia in the Olympics," Hawai`i head coach Bob Coolen said. "She's worked hard the past two seasons and has developed into a stronger and more confident player who will represent her country and Hawai`i well. We all wish her nothing but the best."

Smethurst's career record at UH is 35-21 with a 1.81 ERA in 356.2 innings pitched. She has thrown three perfect games and a no-hitter in her career at Hawai`i. Last season, she helped lead the Rainbow Wahine to one of its best seasons in history. In the NCAA Regionals, Smethurst fired 10 shutout innings to earn a complete-game win over UC Santa Barbara, 2-0, in the opening game. She then came back in the regional championship to shutout Loyola Marymount, 9-0 in six innings. She led UH in 2007 throwing 186.0 innings with 185 strike outs to 45 walks and had 21 complete games with 10 shutouts.

Porter remains one of the most revered and feared hitters in the softball world. She terrorized opposing pitchers during her three seasons as a Rainbow Wahine from 2001-03. While at Hawai`i, Porter was a 2003 first team NFCA All-American, the 2003 WAC Player of the Year, and three-time all-WAC selection. She amassed big numbers in just three seasons. Her career totals include a .374 batting average, with 119 runs scored, 38 doubles, 38 home runs and 115 runs batted in. In her final, junior season. Porter set several single-season school records including a .479 batting average, 18 doubles, and 17 home runs.

Porter left the program before her senior season to join the Australian national team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She has been a member of the Australian Institute of Sport squad since 2002 and was the first Indigenous Australian to represent her country in softball in the Olympics. In 2004, Porter drove in the only run against the Team USA in the gold medal game, helping to lead Australia to a silver medal.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will take place August 12-21. The softball competition runs from August 12-21.