Tairia Flowers was a member of the U.S. National Women’s Softball Team that won silver at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she competed in all nine games and contributed three RBI and one home run. Flowers is also a World Cup champion (2006 and 2007), a two-time Pan American gold medalist (2003 and 2007), a two-time world champion (2002 and 2006) and an Olympic gold medalist (2004).
In 2007, at the World Cup championship, Flowers hit a .462 with a team-high 12 RBIs. With her .462, which included hitting three home runs – one of which was her first grand slam with the national team – against China, Flowers broke a World Cup record. At the Canada Cup in 2007, she was named the tournament MVP, hitting .650 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and five walks. In 2006, as a gold medalist at the International Softball Federation (ISF) World Championships, Flowers played in five games, with a .333 batting average and two runs scored. During the championship game, Flowers hit .444, with one home run and seven RBIs.
In 2005, she was a gold medalist at the Pan Am qualifier and a silver medalist at the Japan Cup, hitting .316, with a team-high seven RBIs. In 2004, she was a gold medalist at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Flowers was also a gold medalist at the Pan American Games in 2003, hitting .538, with two home runs and six RBIs, as well as a gold medalist at the 2002 ISF World Championships and at the U.S. Cup (2001), with a .400 batting average at the U.S. Cup—the second highest on the team.
At UCLA (2001-2005), Flowers led the Bruins, the team with the most national championships in Division I softball, to four Women’s College World Series (WCWS) appearances, becoming a national champion in 2003. Flowers was a member of the All-WCWS Tournament Team three times (2003, 2001 and 2000), a two-time first-team Pac-10 honoree, a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American, and a top-10 finalist for the USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year (2003). Flowers has been a member of the ProFastpitch X-Treme Tour since 2006, and was previously a member of the National Pro Fastpitch Arizona Heat (2005) and won the Amateur Softball Association Major National Championship with the Phoenix Storm (1997-2001). She is in her second year as assistant coach at Long Beach State. (9/08)