From Al’s Fastball:

USA Junior Men are shutout by defending champion Australia at World Championship

Summerset, PEI, Canada­-The USA Softball Junior Men were shutout by two-time defending champion Australia 5-0 on day two of the ISF World Championship to fall to 1-1 in the tournament. The U.S. managed only two hits in the game while being fanned 17-times.

The Aussies jumped all over U.S. starter Zach Warne (Sioux Falls, SD) in the first two innings scoring one in the first and four in the second to take a comfortable 5-0 lead. Warne was relieved in the second but was responsible for all five of the runs. B.J. Hunhoff (Harrisburg, SD) held Australia hitless while allowing just one walk in three innings of relief work. Kyle Davis (Sioux Falls, SD) pitched the final three innings holding the Aussie’s scoreless.

The U.S. had runners in scoring position in the third when Brandon Huerta (Atascadero, Calif.) and Brian Malakowsky (Wells, Minn.) reached on walks but could not come up with a key hit to get on the board. Kevin Castillo (Long Beach, Calif.) broke up the no-hitter in the sixth inning with a single and Jason Loe (Sioux Falls, SD) followed with a single
as well but once again both were left stranded.

“We didn’t start the game mentally ready today,” said head coach Tim Lyon. “We came out flat, got behind early and could not make a run at them. We had a few chances with runners in scoring position but could not get that first big hit.”

Australian pitcher Adam Folkard was dominate against the Red, White and Blue allowing only two hits while recording 17 of the 21 outs by strikeout. Looking to rebound on Sunday from its first loss, the U.S. will try and knock off perennial power New Zealand at 1 p.m. “We will be ready to play New Zealand tomorrow and get back on the winning track”.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2005 at 8:52 am and is filed under ASA, Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.