Anissa Urtez (born January 18, 1995) is an American professional

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

player of Mexican descent. She played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. She represented

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Early life

Urtezz attended high school at

Downey High School Downey High School is one of two senior high schools located in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California, and within the Downey Unified School District. It is located at 11040 Brookshire Ave. At the present time the school has an enrollment ...

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...

. During her junior year, she hit .577 with 36 runs scored, 44 RBIs, 10 home runs, 18 extra-base hits and a .990 slugging percentage. She was subsequently named San Gabriel Valley League (SGVL) MVP, first-team All San Gabriel Valley League, and Press-Telegram Player of the Year. During her senior year in 2012, she broke every Downey High School record.

College career

Urtez played

. During her freshman year in 2014, she batted for a .353 average and was second on the team with 18 extra-base hits, 10 doubles, three triples and six home runs. She finished second in the league with 149 assists at shortstop, and was named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, and Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. During her sophomore year in 2015, she started all 55 games for the Utes at shortstop, where she led the Pac-12 with 12 sacrifice bunts, and ranked in the top ten in the Pac-12 with 106 assists. After the season she was named Honorable Mention Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. During her junior year in 2016, she posted a .380 average with 70 hits, 16 doubles, four home runs, 46 RBI. She led the conference in doubles, and assists (142), and ranked sixth in hits, and RBI. Following the season she was named First Team All Pac-12. During her senior year in 2017, she posted a .410 average with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, 52 RBI and 138 assists. She ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in batting average and RBI. Following the season she was named Second Team All Pac-12. She finished her career ranking in the top-five in both doubles (42) and RBIs (161) in Utah history.

Professional career

On July 9, 2017, Urtez signed with the

Scrap Yard Dawgs The Scrap Yard Fast Pitch was an independent women's professional softball team based in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston. Established in October 2015 as the Scrap Yard Dawgs, the team played in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) during the 20 ...

. During her first season in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, she batted .231, while posting a .333 on-base percentage, a .308 slugging percentage, and .941 fielding percentage. She helped the Scrap Yard Dawgs win their first Cowles Cup in franchise history. During the 2019 season, she played for the

Cleveland Comets The Cleveland Comets were a women's professional softball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by General Manager, Stephen Dunn. They moved to Cleveland from Akron, Ohio, in 2018. The Comets played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch Nation ...

where she hit .301 in 73 at-bats.

Coaching career

Urtez served as assistant coach for

Utah Valley Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

softball team during the 2018–19 season.

International career

Urtez represented

Team Mexico Team Mexico is a professional wrestling stable that was first formed in 2004 to compete in TNA Wrestling's America's X-Cup Tournament and has since returned to compete in other TNA X Cup Tournaments. History 2004 The original team consisted of ...

at the

2017 World Cup of Softball The twelfth World Cup of Softball was held between July 5-9, 2017, in Oklahoma City. Japan defended their championship by defeating the United States in the title game. Participating teams Seven countries participated in the tournament with the U ...

, where she led the team in singles and runs scored. She represented Team Mexico at the 2018

International Cup The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup or simply the IC) is a triennial international Australian rules football Competition#Competitive sports, sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournam ...

, where she hit .313, and led the team in hits. She also posted a .500 slugging percentage, .899 OPS and did not commit an error among 25 chances. She represented Team Mexico at the

, where she hit the first home run in Mexican Olympic softball history in their second game against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Personal life

Urtez is openly lesbian and is engaged to American softball player Amanda Chidester.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urtez, Anissa Living people 1995 births American sportspeople of Mexican descent Cleveland Comets players LGBT softball players American LGBT sportspeople Mexican softball players Olympic softball players for Mexico Scrap Yard Dawgs players Japan Diamond Softball League players Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Softball players from California Sportspeople from Long Beach, California Utah Utes softball players LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT people from California 21st-century American LGBT people