USA Softball evens record to 2-2 at Pan American Championships

Tue Oct 3 15:04:17 EDT 2006

Received: 10/3/06 1:57:40 PM 
From:  "Brian McCall" <bmccall(at)softball.org> 

Subject:  USA Softball evens record to 2-2 at Pan American Championships

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USA loses 8-0 to Venezuelaat Pan American Softball Championships

Hermosillo, Mexico---The USA Softball Men’s NationalTeam opened
with an 8-0 loss to Venezuela on opening day of the Men’s PanAmerican
Softball Championships.

Venezuela’sJohn Garcia was spectacular in the circle allowing
only one hit while strikingout five U.S.batters. Blake Miller
(Albany, Ga.was the only U.S.player able to produce a hit in
the game.

Venezuela took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the firstinning
when third baseman Ivan Paez drove a pitch over the fence to
scoreArturo Acacio who had walked to lead off the inning. 

U.S. starterMichael White (Sioux City, Iowa) settled down and
held the Venezuelanbats silent until the fifth inning. Elis Vgueto
reached on a walk and moved tosecond on a singe by Acacio. Paez,
who drove in the first two runs of the game,reached on a fielder’s
choice that advanced Vgueto to third. With tworunners on Jenin
Rodriguez came up big with a three run home run to give histeam
a comfortable 5-0 advantage.

In the sixth Paul Algar (Lexinton, Ill.,)came on in relief of
White but a walk and a passed ball but John Zambravo inscoring
position. A single by Edwin Jinanes plated Zambravo for a 6-0
lead.

Miller collected a lead off single in the bottom of thesixth
inning but Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.) grounded into a double
playand Omar Moraga (Tucson, Ariz.) popped up to shortstop to
end the inning.

The U.S.went to the bullpen again in the seventh inning and looked
to Tony Peeples (San Miguel, Calif.) tohold down Venezuela’sscrappy
offense. 

Paez opened the inning with his second hit of the day andwent
to second on an error. Rodriguez walked and advanced to second
on an RBIsingle by Julio Jinares that scored Paez. Zambravo was
then hit by a pitch thatloaded the bases for Jose Manuillo who
grounded out to second but still managedto score Rodriguez.

In the seventh Garcia retired the U.S. in order to pick up the
win.

__________________________________________________________________________

USA Softball improves to 1-1 at Pan Am Championshipswith 4-3
win over Canada

HERMOSILLO, Mexico – TheUSA Softball Men’s National Team improved
to 1-1 at the 2006 Pan AmericanSoftball Championships with a
4-3 win over Canada on Sunday night. The twoteams were not originally
scheduled to play but after teams dropped out of thetournament
the format was changed to a 10-team round-robin and matched the
USA, the defending champion, and Canada, therunner-up in the
last championship, in the opening day.

The game was scoreless until the bottomof the fifth inning when
Chris Miljavac (St. JosephMo.,) reached on a bunt single and
moved tosecond on an error by Canadafirst baseman Derek Mayson.
A wild pitch allowed Miljavac to move to third anda passed ball
allowed him to score.

Canadatied the game in the top of the sixth inning when Tim Macumber
hit a sacrificefly to deep center field that scored Fehman who
had led off the inning with asingle. Kevin Schellenberg, who
reached on a walk and advanced to second on asacrifice bunt,
also tried to score on the sacrifice fly but was gunned down
atthe plate to end the inning. 

A three run home run by Landy Rodriguez (West Haverstraw, NY)
in the bottom of the sixth inninggave the Red, White and Blue
a 3-0 lead going into the seventh inning. 

Canada battled back in the top of theseventh inning with three
runs off USA starter Travis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.)but fell
short when Miljavac made a game saving catch on a ball hit to
rightfield and Paul Algar came in relief to strikeout Jeff Ellsworth
who was pinchhitting.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
USA Falls to Argentina7-0

HERMOSILLO, Mexico - The USA Softball Men’s National Teamwas
shutout, 7-0, by Argentinain round robin play on day two of the
2006Pan American Softball Championships.  The team put upfive
hits including a double by Lucas Goring (St. Paul, Minn.but was
unable to string enough hits together for a run. The loss drops
the U.S. to 1-2 inround-robin play.

The U.S.started out strong with both Omar Moraga (TucsonAriz.)
and Kyle Magnusson (Salt Lake City, Utahcollecting singles but
both were stranded on base. 

Argentina put itsfirst two runners on base off a single by Magonal
Mavian and an error by thirdbaseman Gregg Cascaes. Pintos Juan,
who reached on the error, would not spendmuch time on the base
paths as Petric Fernando popped up into a double play. Despitethe
double play, Argentinastill managed to put two runs and take
an early 2-0 lead. 

In the third inning Argentina increased its lead to 4-0when a
hard hit single by Guanerci Gusavo scored Juan, who reached on
a walk,and Fernando who singled. 

It looked like the fourth inning was the inning for the Red,White
and Blue as Chad Ferguson (Battle Creek, Mich.) led off with
a single andGoring followed with a double but Ferguson he was
thrown out at home in theattempt to score. The next two batters
were out halting the USA scoringdrive.

After scoring one run in the fourth, Argentina gotall the runs
they needed in the sixth to keep the game from going seveninnings.
Mavian, who was 2-for-4 on the day, singled for two RBI to give
Argentina a 7-0 shutout victory over the United States.

Tony Peeples (San Miguel, Calif.),throwing a complete game, suffered
his first loss of the tournament. In sixinnings of work he allowed
five earned runs on eights hits and struck out two. 

USA beats Cuba 2-1 at Pan American SoftballChampionships

Hermosillo, Mexico---The USA Softball Men’s NationalTeam improved
its record to 2-2 at the Pan American Softball Championships
witha 2-1 win over Cuba in the nightcap on Monday. Paul Algar
(Lexington, Ill.) wasdominate in the circle allowing only one
run on two hits while striking outnine in a complete game effort.

Frank DeGroat (Ringwood NJ) put the Red, White and Bluein the
lead in the top of the second inning with a solo home run to
lead offthe inning. Chad Boom (Barnesville Minn.) followed with
a single butwas left stranded when the next three batters struck
out.

With one out in the fourth inning DeGroat walked and lookedto
score on a double by Boom but was thrown out at home by a great
throw fromcenterfield that halted the rally.

It was Boom once again that got the offense going for theU.S.
in the top of the seventh inning when he led off with a single
and movedto second when Landy Rodriguez (West Haverstraw, NY)
was hit by a pitch. Adouble by Sonny Perkins (St. Michaels, Ariz.)
added an insurance run as Boom scored to give the U.S. a 2-0lead.

Cuba rallied inthe bottom of the seventh inning as Roberto Echarte
led off the inning with awalk, moved to second on a fielder’s
choice and scored on a single byJuan Marti. With two runners
on base and the lead cut to 2-1, Algar came up bigby striking
out Livan Zaedivan and getting Alexis Navarro to fly out to centerto
end the game.

Boom led the U.S.offense going 3-for-3 while DeGroat and Perkins
collected the only other hitsfor the U.S.

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