USA Softball Men's National Team advances to the finals and finishes second at ISF Men's World Cup

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 6/25/07 11:59:11 AM 
From:  "Brian McCall" <bmccall(at)softball.org> 


  
Subject:  USA Softball Men's National Team advances to the finals
and finishes second at ISF Men's World Cup  



  




USA Men finish second at ISF Men’sWorld Cup of Softball

 

Prague, CZ---The USA Softball Men’s National Team finished secondat
the 2007 ISF Men’s World Cup of Softball on Sunday after falling
toJapan, 2-0, in the championship game. The U.S.rebounded from
an opening round loss to Japanto defeat Venezuelaand earn a rematch
in the championship game.

 

Japanpicked up the only run it would need in the bottom of the
first inning when theU.S.defense faltered. Suzuki reached to
lead off the inning on an error by U.S. third baseman Gregg Cascaes
(Apple Valley, Minn.) andmoved to second and third on back-to-back
sacrifices by Yokohama and Ishimura. Japan continued to execute
thefundamentals of the game with a sacrifice fly to left field
that scored Suzuki.

 

The U.S.recorded its only hit of the game in the top of the fourth
inning. Adam LaLonde(Cheboygan, Mich.led off the inning with
a single to left field but the U.S. was not able to bring a runacross.


 

An insurance run was added by Japan in the bottom of the sixthinning
for a 2-0 lead.

 

In the top of the seventh the U.S. mounted a comeback that wouldfall
short. Omar Moraga (Agoura Hills, Calif.) reached after being
hit by a pitch to lead offthe inning and moved to second when
Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.reached on a throwing error by
the third baseman. But the comeback was haltedwhen Frank DeGroat,
Jr. (Ringwood, N.J.) struck out and Nate Devine (MercedCalif.grounded
into a double-play back to the pitcher to end the game.

 

The U.S. finishedthe game with just one hit and left three runners
stranded while Japancollected two runs off eight hits and left
five runners on base.

 

The USA will have achance to redeem itself in less than a month
when it faces off with Japan, Venezuelaand Argentina in theinaugural
KFC American Challenge Series, July 13-15, in Oklahoma City at
the ASA Hall of FameComplex.

 

The American Challenge Series is being hosted in conjunction
with the2007 KFC World Cup of Softball. Anyone holding a ticket
for the KFC World Cupof Softball will be admitted for free to
the KFC American Challenge Series.  

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

USA Men rebound to advanceto championship game

 

Prague, CZ---The USA Softball Men’s National Team turned thingsaround
in the bronze medal game at the ISF Men’s World Cup by defeatingVenezuela
5-2 to earn a spot in the championship game against Japan. A
solidpitching performance by USAstarter Travis Price (Santa Ana,
Calif.) coupled with some timely hitting put the U.S.back on
track for the title.

 

After a scoreless first inning, Venezuelatook a 1-0 lead in the
top of the second inning when Coronel was hit by apitch, moved
to third on a single by Floresand scored on a groundout by Guererro.

 

The U.S.responded in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead.
Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.led off the inning with a solo
home run to tie the game at 1-1. With one out,Nate Devine (Merced,
Calif.) got the offense going again with asingle to right field.
After a strikeout by Blake Miller (AlbanyGa.), Devine moved into
scoring position whenGregg Cascaes (Apple Valley Minn.) was hit
by a pitch but it wasan error by the Venezuelan defense that
proved to be the difference. It lookedlike the runners would
be stranded on a fielder’s choice by Lucas Goring(St. Paul, Minn.)
but the second baseman muffed the throw from the shortstopand
allowed Devine to score the go ahead run.

 

Venezuelatied the game in the top of the third with help from
Price who hit threebatters in the inning. A lead off double by
Linares put the tying run on base and threehit batters in the
inning allowed him to come around and scored without anotherball
being put into play. 

 

In the bottom of the fifth inning the U.S. was the beneficiary
of abatter being hit by a pitch. Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph,
Mo.led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. The next two U.S.
batters were unable to movehim into scoring position after being
struck out so Miljavac put himself inscoring position by stealing
second base. After a walk to Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood, N.J.),Devine
collected his second hit of the game to score Miljavac and give
the Red,White and Blue a 3-2 advantage.

 

The U.S. managed tohold Venezuelascoreless in the top of the
sixth inning and tack on two more insurance runs inthe bottom
of the sixth. With two runners on base, Miljavac laced a triple
toleft field that drove in the final two runs of the game to
secure a 5-2 U.S.victory.

 

Price picked up the win in the circle after allowing two runs
on fivehits and being responsible for five batters being hit
by a pitch.

 

With the win the U.S.advances to face Japanin the championship
finals to decide the inaugural champion of the ISFMen’s World
Cup. The two teams have split their previous two match-ups atthe
World Cup with the U.S.winning in pool play and Japanwinning
in the opening game of the playoffs.

 

 

 Al's Fastball News
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