Dejah Mulipola leads USA softball in Oklahoma City; bolster 2028 LA bid with veteran leadership
Dejah Mulipola embraces new leadership role as USA build towards LA28 - World Baseball Softball Confederation - wbsc.org
Dejah Mulipola embraces new leadership role as USA build towards LA28
Dejah Mulipola remembers arriving at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as one of the youngest players on the USA roster. Five years later, the 28-year-old catcher finds herself in a very different position.
Now one of the more experienced members of a young USA squad competing at the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Oklahoma City 2026, Mulipola has embraced a leadership role as the national team continues its journey towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
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“That’s so crazy that you bring that up, because I just realised the other day that I am one of the vets,” Mulipola said. “When I was in the Olympics, I was one of the youngest, one of the three youngest. And so it’s crazy that it’s come full circle.”
The current USA roster brings together players with different backgrounds and levels of experience. Mulipola believes that combination is one of the team’s strengths, with international veterans sharing the field with athletes coming from the collegiate and professional game.
“There’s so much talent. There’s so much experience, not only just at the international level, but also the professional level,” she said. “We have some girls coming out of the collegiate game that bring a lot of talent.”
For Mulipola, experience increasingly means more than what she can contribute behind the plate. Her memories of Tokyo have helped shape how she approaches her responsibility towards the younger players around her.
USA earned silver at Tokyo 2020, where softball returned to the Olympic programme for the first time since Beijing 2008. Mulipola did not see extensive playing time, but says observing the more experienced players provided lessons she can now pass on.
“If you don’t take any loss as a learning moment, you’ll never win,” she said. “Watching the older girls and how they went about their business was something that I can take and build on my experience and help these younger players, create a different experience for them.”
She believes the willingness of the group to learn from each other can be an important part of USA’s development over the next two years.
“We have a great group of women,” Mulipola said. “Everyone’s respectful of each other. Everyone is willing to take criticism and learn and put their pride to the side. And so I think that’s going to be a big motivator for us to be successful moving forward into 2028.”
That transition from young prospect to veteran has coincided with another significant stage in her career. Mulipola now plays professionally in Japan, giving her first-hand experience of a softball culture that has produced USA’s biggest international rival.
Rather than viewing her time in Japan as an opportunity to scout potential opponents, she sees it as another way to broaden her understanding of the game.
“I enjoy the level of softball that they play at. It’s so elite, and I think it reflects in their national team and how they go about their process,” Mulipola said. “It’s different than how we play here in America. Their fast pace, their small ball, the way that they see the game is different.”
Her experience also has particular value behind the plate. Mulipola highlighted fellow Tokyo Olympian Rachel Garcia as another veteran presence capable of helping USA’s younger pitchers and catchers develop.
That process, she says, requires putting individual competition aside.
“Yes, we’re competing against each other, but at the end of the day, if we have the same uniform on, we’re helping win, regardless of who’s on the field,” Mulipola said. “Any way that I can lead in that aspect and help the next person is all that I’m about.”
From Oklahoma City to LA28
The WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Oklahoma City offers USA an opportunity to compete at Devon Park while continuing to develop the player pool that could eventually represent the country at LA28.
Asked where she sees the team in that process, Mulipola’s reaction was immediate.
“I’m so excited and I have chills as I’m speaking,” she said. “It’s exciting, I think, because it’s going to be on home soil.”
Mulipola acknowledges that the team playing in Oklahoma City may not be the one that takes the field at the Olympic Games in 2028. But she believes some of its core pieces could already be in place.
“This may not be the team that goes, but I think there’s going to be a lot of core pieces that are going to get mixed in that are already here,” she said. “Whatever the team may look like, we’re helping the women that are going to get there, and we’re going to push for that gold medal.”
She also sees the broader environment around the national team as an important part of that two-year process.
“There’s so much experience in our pool, not even just on the field that’s here now, but even to the coaching staff,” Mulipola said. “They’re leading us in the right direction. We have so much support here in Oklahoma City and around the world that are rooting for us.
“So I think there’s a lot of really positive things that are helping lead us into these next two years.”
For Mulipola herself, LA28 represents the possibility of returning to the Olympic stage in a very different role. In Tokyo she was one of the newcomers. Should she make the USA roster in 2028, she would arrive as an Olympian and veteran, carrying the experience of the previous Games with her.
“I just want to bring my experience, yes, but also bring a new perspective to the team,” she said. “We won silver last time, so I think there are some changes that need to be made, and I hope I can bring a positive perspective to that and just lead the team in any direction to help us win a gold medal, whatever that looks like.”
And when Mulipola pictures Devon Park during the Olympic Games, she has little difficulty imagining the scene.
“I see it full,” she said. “I don’t think we have enough seats for everybody. So it’s going to be a really cool experience.
“I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like to play in this stadium.”
Categories: Slideshow news , Softball , WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Oklahoma City 2026 , Women’s Softball , Women’s Softball World Cup
An Olympic silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, the USA catcher has gone from being one of the youngest players on the team to helping guide a new generation, with a home Olympic Games now just two years away.