Miller’s Homer Propels USA Softball to Third Straight Win in ISF Men’s World Cup
HR for Blake Miller, Win for Sonny Perkins
PRAGUE, CZ—Blake Miller (Albany, Ga.), one of the smallest players on the USA Softball Men’s National Team at 5’10†and 165 pounds, came up with one of the biggest hits so far in the ISF World Cup Tuesday night in a 4-1 win over Japan, who is ranked fifth in the world.
With the teams scoreless after one inning, Miller hit an opposite field two-run homer to right center to give the USA an early 2-0 lead. Miller’s homer—his first and the fifth for the USA in three games—came off losing pitcher Tatsuya Hamaguchi.
“The ball was a dipper (drop ball),†Miller said. “It was a great pitch to hit and I was glad that I could give us an early lead.â€
After Miller’s homer, which had Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.) aboard after reaching on a fielder’s choice, Japan cut the margin in half by scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning. Ryuji Hazeyama tripled to the left field corner to open the inning and scored on a fielder’s choice by Shubei Suzuki. It was the only run allowed by USA starter and winning pitcher Sonny Perkins (St. Michaels, Ariz.) who allowed only five hits in his first start at the World Cup. He fanned four and walked three.
The USA added to its lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wisc.) that scored Lucas Goring (St. Paul, Minn.), who reached on a bunt to lead off the inning and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.).
An exclamation point was added in the sixth inning after Devine led off with a monster home run that cleared the trees in left field that gave the U.S. a comfortable 4-1 advantage.
Goring had a pair of singles in three at-bats to lead the USA six-hit attack.
Now 3-0, the USA will play two club teams from Spain on Wednesday, Halcones Tenerife and Santa Isabel Zaragoza.
Our roving photographer/reporter had this to say about the game:
Team USA beat Japan 4- 1 but had to earn every bit of it. Sonny Perkins picked up the win rearing back and absolutely blowing fastballs past the Japanese slap hitters when it counted most. The Japanese pitchers were no slouches but our hitters were just a bit better tonight. And their third baseman made quite possibly one of the best plays ever made on a perfectly bunted ball by a Team USA batter. The crowd seemed very appreciative getting the chance to watch some World Class fastpitch on a very warm Prague evening.
USA vs Japan (Jun 19, 2007)
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Box score
* Play-by-Play
Box score
2007 MEN’S WORLD CUP
USA at Japan
Jun 19, 2007 at Unknown
USA 4 (3-0)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
——————————————————
LALONDE, ADAM cf……… 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
MILJAVAC, CHRIS rf……. 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
MORAGA,OMAR ss……….. 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 2 0
DELARWELLE,CHRIS 1b…… 3 0 1 1 1 0 5 0 0
KANDOUS, MOJAHED pr….. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DEGROAT,FRANK c………. 4 0 1 0 0 2 4 0 7
DEVINE, NATHAN dh…….. 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
MILLER BLAKE 2b………. 3 1 1 2 0 0 2 2 0
CASCAES, GREGG 3b…….. 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0
HUNT, TIM ph………… 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GORING,LUCAS lf………. 3 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 0
PERKINS,PHILIP p……… 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Totals………………. 29 4 6 4 2 7 21 8 7
Japan 1 (2-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
——————————————————
S Suzuki rf………….. 4 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 2
H Ishimura cf………… 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
T Sakai 1b…………… 3 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0
Y Ono dh…………….. 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
T Tsutsui 3b…………. 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1
Y Yamasaki c…………. 3 0 1 0 0 1 7 0 3
R Hazeyama ss………… 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 0
K Nishio lf………….. 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Y Nishimori 2b……….. 3 0 1 0 0 1 6 1 1
T Hamaguchi p………… 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
Y Nakashima p……….. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K Iida p……………. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals………………. 25 1 4 1 3 4 21 9 9
Score by Innings R H E
—————————————–
USA…………….. 020 011 0 – 4 6 0
Japan…………… 010 000 0 – 1 4 2
—————————————–
E – T Sakai; T Tsutsui. LOB – USA 7; Japan 9. 3B – R Hazeyama. HR – DEVINE;
MILLER BLAKE. HBP – MORAGA; T Sakai; Y Ono; K Nishio. SB – GORING.
USA IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
———————————————–
PERKINS,PHILIP…… 7.0 4 1 1 3 4 25 31
Japan IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
———————————————–
T Hamaguchi……… 5.0 5 3 3 1 4 21 23
Y Nakashima……… 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K Iida………….. 2.0 1 1 1 1 3 8 9
Win – PERKINS (1-0). Loss – T Hamaguchi (). Save – None.
HBP – by PERKINS (K Nishio); by T Hamaguchi (MORAGA); by PERKINS (Y Ono); by
PERKINS (T Sakai).
Umpires –
Start: Time: 2;14 Attendance: 1374
Game: PRAGUE3
Play-by-Play
2007 MEN’S WORLD CUP
USA at Japan – Play-by-Play
Jun 19, 2007 at Unknown
Score by Innings R H E
—————————————–
USA…………….. 020 011 0 – 4 6 0
Japan…………… 010 000 0 – 1 4 2
—————————————–
USA starters: 11/cf LALONDE; 12/rf MILJAVAC; 6/ss MORAGA; 27/1b DELARWELLE; 8/c
DEGROAT; 22/dh DEVINE; 1/2b MILLER BLAKE; 5/3b CASCAES; 2/lf GORING; 3/p
PERKINS;
Japan starters: 23/rf S Suzuki; 8/cf H Ishimura; 9/1b T Sakai; 2/dh Y Ono;
16/3b T Tsutsui; 10/c Y Yamasaki; 15/ss R Hazeyama; 7/lf K Nishio; 14/2b Y
Nishimori; 24/p T Hamaguchi;
USA 1st – LALONDE grounded out to ss. MILJAVAC out at first p to 2b.
MORAGA flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Japan 1st – S Suzuki flied out to lf. H Ishimura walked. T Sakai struck
out looking. Y Ono walked; H Ishimura advanced to second. T Tsutsui walked; Y
Ono advanced to second; H Ishimura advanced to third. Y Yamasaki struck out
looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
USA 2nd – DELARWELLE flied out to rf. DEGROAT singled. DEVINE reached on
a fielder’s choice; DEGROAT out at second 3b to 2b. MILLER BLAKE homered to
right center, 2 RBI; DEVINE scored. CASCAES grounded out to 2b. 2 runs, 2hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Japan 2nd – R Hazeyama tripled. K Nishio hit by pitch. Y Nishimori flied
out to lf. S Suzuki reached on a fielder’s choice, RBI; K Nishio out at second
ss to 2b; R Hazeyama scored. H Ishimura grounded out to ss. 1 run, 1 hit, 0errors, 1 LOB.
USA 3rd – GORING singled, bunt. GORING stole second. LALONDE struck out
swinging. MILJAVAC walked. MORAGA struck out swinging. DELARWELLE reached on an
error by 1b; MILJAVAC advanced to second; GORING advanced to third. DEGROAT
reached on a fielder’s choice; DELARWELLE out at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 1hit, 1 error, 3 LOB.
Japan 3rd – T Sakai grounded out to 2b. Y Ono lined out to ss. T Tsutsui
popped up to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
USA 4th – DEVINE grounded out to ss. MILLER BLAKE popped up to p.
CASCAES struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Japan 4th – Y Yamasaki grounded out to 3b. R Hazeyama popped up to 3b. K
Nishio singled to shortstop. Y Nishimori singled, bunt; K Nishio advanced to
second. S Suzuki flied out to lf. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
USA 5th – No play. GORING singled, bunt. LALONDE lined out to 2b.
MILJAVAC out at first p to 2b; GORING advanced to second. MORAGA hit by pitch.
DELARWELLE singled to right field, RBI; MORAGA advanced to third; GORING
scored. DEGROAT struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Japan 5th – H Ishimura out at first p to 2b. T Sakai grounded out to 2b.
Y Ono hit by pitch. T Tsutsui flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1LOB.
USA 6th – Y Nakashima to p for T Hamaguchi. K Iida to p for Y Nakashima.
DEVINE homered to left field, RBI. MILLER BLAKE grounded out to 3b. HUNT pinch
hit for CASCAES. HUNT grounded out to 1b unassisted. GORING out at first 3b to
2b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Japan 6th – CASCAES to 3b for HUNT. Y Yamasaki singled to center field.
R Hazeyama struck out swinging. K Nishio reached on a fielder’s choice; Y
Yamasaki out at second p to ss. Y Nishimori struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
USA 7th – LALONDE struck out swinging. MILJAVAC reached on an error by
3b. MORAGA struck out looking. DELARWELLE walked; MILJAVAC advanced to second.
KANDOUS pinch ran for DELARWELLE. DEGROAT struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Japan 7th – DELARWELLE to 1b for KANDOUS. S Suzuki flied out to cf. H
Ishimura grounded out to 3b. T Sakai hit by pitch. Y Ono flied out to rf. 0runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
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