Marley Medlock of Atkins enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime experience at a history-making sports event this past weekend. Marley, the 10-year-old daughter of Greg and Dotie Medlock, joined thousands of other fans in Oklahoma City Friday through Sunday as they watched the first-ever World Cup of softball. Representing the U.S. was the team that captured the hearts of sports fans across the nation last year when it breezed to a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Marley, however, enjoyed a much closer look than the other fans.

For starters, there was the private team dinner on Friday evening that Marley and her traveling companions attended. When game action began, their seats were in a prime location, behind and just to the left of home plate. And souvenirs from the trip? Marley’s glove is now covered with autographs, as is a program book, a USA National Team visor and softball. She also received an official USA jersey, complete with her name and a number on the back.

The story of her trip actually begins with her sister, Mattie, 7, and Kristie Betancur, coach of the Golden Suns women’s softball team at Arkansas Tech University. Betancur has been giving private pitching lessons to Marley, and met Mattie, who is battling cancer. That meeting brought back plenty of memories for Betancur. When the coach was a child, her twin battled leukemia. As a result, her family has experienced many of the same challenges as the Medlocks.

"Mattie is so courageous," Betancur said. "She just keeps plugging away. She really has so much faith."

Betancur then hit upon the idea of trying to set up a trip for Mattie and her family to the World Cup competition. A telephone call to the offices of the organization that governs women’s amateur softball, American Softball Association/USA, got the wheels turning.

The organization gladly donated a family pack of tickets that offered free admission for six games in two days. Before long, friends in the Atkins community had pulled together to get food and lodging donated. Once all the plans were set, a small kink developed.

Mattie, who has been undergoing treatment for her cancer since last fall, developed a bacterial infection. The infection resulted in a hospital stay for Mattie over the weekend, rather than a trip to the World Cup. So instead of a trip for the whole family, Betancur took Marley and her cousin, Austin Medlock, of Guy to the competition.

Also making the trip to help look out after Marley and her cousin were Loma Bensley of Atkins and her granddaughter, Vicki, who plays softball for the Golden Suns. Although Mattie was unable to make the trip, there was no doubt that the trip was still all about Mattie. At the private team dinner, the players and coaches recorded a video on which they offered greetings and best wishes to Mattie.

In addition, they also sent home with Marley an official team jersey for Mattie and an autographed softball. "I hate that we missed taking the trip, but I’m so glad Marley got to have that experience," Dotie said.

Based upon the stories Marley has shared with her, the trip indeed was quite an experience, Dotie said. "It’s really unbelievable how interactive the players were with the fans," she said. "The players were not pretentious at all, even though they probably have a right to be."

In fact, the players all but informally adopted the group from Atkins. By the end of the weekend, the team had started calling Bensley "G-Ma" and had to offer their adopted grandmother a hug before the group returned home Sunday.

Not surprisingly, both Marley and Mattie now have aspirations to one day play for the USA National Women’s Team. In the meantime, they share pitcher Jennie Finch as a favorite player, while Marley also names outfielder Jessica Mendoza as a favorite.

For the record, the USA team, which had won three straight Olympic gold medals, was defeated by Japan in the championship game Sunday.

An earlier loss in the World Cup competition on Friday was, in fact, the first loss for the U.S. team in international competition since 2002.