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USA Softball Men’s National Team pick up two more wins at ISF Men’s World Cup, Now 7-0

USA blanks Prague Stars for seventh consecutive win

PRAGUE, CZ—The USA Softball Men’s National Team coasted to
a 10-0 five inningrun rule victory over the Prague Stars (1-4)
on Friday morning to remainundefeated at 7-0 in the ISF Men’s
World Cup. Three-home runs in just oneinning helped to propel
to Red, White and Blue to their fourth victory via therun-rule.

The USA pounded two Prague pitchers for 12hits including three
homers in a six-run third inning. Ales Jetmar was thelosing pitcher
and worked two innings, allowing six runs and eight hits.Right-hander
Petr Bednar replaced Jetmar after the USA hitconsecutive homers
(DeLarwell and DeGroat) in the third inning andfinished the game,
allowing four runs and four hits.

Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.) opened the third with a solo
blast toleft field and catcher Frank DeGroat (Ringwood, N.J.)
followed with a solo homer to centerfield before Adam LaLonde
(Cheboygan, Mich.) sent a blast over the center field fencelater
in the inning for the USA’s first grand slam of the WorldCup.

It was the second home run of the game for DeLarwelle who helped
putthree runs on the board in the first inning with a solo shot.
DeGroat increasedhis home run total to four with his solo home
run while LaLonde broke into thehome run club with his first.
The three homers in the third inning increasedthe overall USAtotal
to 14 in just seven games.

Although it wasn’t the first time LaLonde has hit a grand slam
in hiscareer, it was the first grand slam for him in his six-year
career as a memberof the USA National Team. LaLonde had a pair
of singles in two earlier at-bats tofinish off a perfect day.
DeLarwelle also had a perfect day offensively going3-for-3 with
a single and two home runs.

Cody Thomson (Salt Lake City, Utah) hurled the first three innings
for the USA to pick uphis second win in the circle. During his
stint in the circle he allowed onlyone hit, one walk and fanned
two batters. Left-hander B.J. Hunhoff (Harrisburg, S.D.came in
from the bull pen in the fourth inning to finish off the game.
In twoinnings of work he did not allow a hit and struck out two.

The U.S. must nowturn its sights towards a showdown with undefeated
Venezuela later in the day. Thewinner will secure the top seed
going into the page playoffs on Saturday. Thelast time these
two teams met up was in October of 2006 at the Men’s PanAmerican
Championships in Hermosillo, Mexico where Venezueladismantled
the USA8-0, and allowed only one hit. The U.S.went on to finish
fourth while Venezuelafinished as the runner-up.

-30-

USA holds off Czech Republic toremain undefeated in ISF Men’s
World Cup

HAVLICKUV, BROD—Holding off a last inning rally by the Czech
Republic(1-4), the USA Softball Men’s National Team won its sixth
consecutivegame on Thursday, 6-4, to remain undefeated in the
ISF Men’s World Cup. TheU.S.improved to 6-0 in pool play which
concludes on Friday with a double-header.

For the first time in the tournament the U.S. found itself trailing
ina game when the Czech’s took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom
of thesecond inning but the Red, White and Blue came storming
back in the top of thefourth inning after a couple is costly
defensive miscues.

Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood N.J.) reached on a fielding errorby
the shortstop to lead off the inning and Mo Kandouse (Patterson,
N.J.) wasinserted to pinch-run. A trot would be the extent of
running Kandouse wouldhave to do as Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.)
blasted his second home run of the World Cup toleft field to
give the U.S.a 2-1 advantage.

The Czech Republic came back to tiethe game in the bottom of
the fourth inning. T. Benda led off the inning with asingle and
scored on a single by V. Svoboda coupled with an error by U.S.
right fielder Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.

The USA regained thelead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning
on a solo homer by shortstop OmarMoraga (Agoura Hills, Calif.)
and an RBI single by Devine but thepesky Czech’s added a run
of their own in the bottom of the sixth to cutthe lead in half.

Two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning, which proved
to bethe difference in the game, increased the U.S. lead to 6-3.
Moragaled off the inning with a double to center field and scored
on an RBI single byChris DeLarwelle (Appleton Wis.). With one
out in theinning, DeLarwelle stole second, advanced to third
on an error by the shortstopand scored on a wild pitch.

With their home town fans behind them, the Czech’s mounted a
comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning. L. Prochazka led
off with a singleand advanced into scoring position on a wild
pitch. A walk to M. Cermakprompted Head Coach Peter Turner to
turn to his bull pen to put a stop to therally.

Sonny Perkins (St. Michael’s, Ariz.came in to relieve starter
Travis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.) with thewinning run coming to
the plate. D. Mertl greeted Perkins with a single toright field
that scored Prochazka but that would be all Perkins and the U.S.defense
would allow. A heads-up play by USAfirst baseman Nate Devine
(Merced, Calif.) turned a routine out into a double play when
hetook the throw from second baseman Blake Miller (Albany, Ga.and
laced it to third to pick-off the runner. Perkins wrapped up
his first savewith a strikeout to end the game.

Price picked up his third win of the World Cup, hurling 6 1/3
inningswith eight strikeouts. The USAand the Czech Republiceach
had eight hits apiece with Moraga and Devinleading the way with
three hits apiece for the USA.

The USA willcomplete the round robin portion of the World Cup
on Friday with games againstthe Prague Stars and Venezuela.

From USA Softball, a PDF with cumulative stats through the first five games.

Some notable numbers by the offense: (10 at bats or more):

(USA Leaders in total bases, and other offensive categories, Blake Miller, Chris Delarwelle, Frank DeGroat, Jr. and Omar Moraga. Blake Miller leads in 5 offensive categories – total bases, RBI, Hits, Runs and extra base hits)

Most total bases – Blake Miller, 17; Frank De Groat Jr. 14, Chris Delarwelle and Omar Moraga, 12.
Batting avg. – Chris Delarwelle, .533; Daryn Miller, .500, Blake Miller, .471, Nate Devine, .400
Most hits – Blake Miller and Chris Delarwelle with 8. (Miller 8-17, Delarwelle 8-12)
Most HR’s – Frank DeGroat Jr. 3, Blake Miller and Omar Moraga, 2;
Most RBI – Blake Miller with 8; Daryn Miller, 6, and Chris Delarwelle 5;
Most runs scored – Blake Miller 8; Nate Devine, 6, 3 others with 5;
On base % – Chris Delarwelle, .611, Tim Hunt, .545, Daryn Miller, .538

As for pitching and defense:

(Travis Price has 2 of the 5 wins, Sonny Perkins, the lowest ERA, at 1.00)

The pitchers are unbeaten in 5 games, and the defense has made but one error, while opponents have made 10. Pitching stats are almost equal, Sonny Perkins with the lowest ERA at 1.0, while the others were in the 2’s. Travis Price has 2 of the 5 wins.

As a team:

Batting avg. – .377
OB% – .456
55 hits in 146 at bats
9 homers
18 extra base hits
42 RBI
51 Runs scored
17 walks
30 K’s
-and-
every single non-pitcher has a hit

An update from our roving reporter and photographer in Prague, Bernie Lopez, at 12noon California time (nighttime in Prague):

Unfortunately, the Czech skies decided to pour down on the softball fields so a few games were cancelled. I personally left the field an hour ago, and unless it gets real hot in a hurry and the field crews can perform miracles, the much anticipated 8 P.M. match up between Venezuela vs Japan will have to wait. Team USA is still playing, as far as I know, at a field about 75 miles away. No news on weather there.

And here is the official word now, from Softball/CZ:

The rest of thursday schedule was cancelled at 7:00pm by Technical Committee decision because of bad weather conditions. Thursday evening games were moved to Saturday June 23rd. See SCHEDULE