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Former Ute softball star Hannah Flippen makes the U.S. Olympic team

Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune file photo Hannah Flippen poses for a portrait during a practice at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium at the University of Utah in 2016.

Hannah Flippen, a former Utah softball star and current assistant coach, was named Sunday to the U.S. Olympic team for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Flippen, 24, made the 18-player roster after a tryout camp in Oklahoma City. Softball has been restored to the Olympic program after last being staged in Beijing in 2008.

“My time as a Ute has been instrumental in the path to this moment,” Flippen said in a school news release. “I could not be more proud to represent the University of Utah and the United States.”

Flippen concluded her Ute career in 2017 as a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year and was the conference's Defensive Player of the Year as a senior second baseman. She will be one of five Pac-12 alumni on the U.S. roster and will compete in Tokyo against Mexico's Anissa Urtez, a former Ute teammate.

Flippen posted a career .384 batting average for the Utes as a three-time All-American. She batted .431 as a junior and .413 as a senior, when she received the school’s Occie Evans Award as the most outstanding female student-athlete. In addition to working under Utah coach Amy Hogue, Flippen plays professionally for the Chicago Bandits.

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