OKLAHOMA CITY - The USA Softball Women’s National team scored two early runs and held on to beat Australia 3-0 in the Championship game of the 2012 World Cup of Softball presented by Lumber Liquidators.
2012 Team USA Cumulative Stats
Jackie Traina (Naples, Fla.) got the start in the circle for the USA National team. She entered the World Cup of Softball Championship with a 1.11 era for the tournament. Her international play dominance continued as she completed four innings only giving up one hit and striking out five.
In the first inning Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) lead off with a single for the USA. Two batters later Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nevada) singled to give the Americans runners at first and second. From the five hole, Samantha Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif.) drove a ball over the center fielders head for a double and giving USA a 2-0 lead. It was Fischer’s fifth and sixth RBI of the 2012 World Cup.
“I just focused and tried to stay within myself,” said Fischer. “I was looking for my pitch. I went in the hole 0-2 but I found a pitch I could drive and fortunately it went over the fielders head.”
It became it a pitching duel in the second and third innings as both Traina and Australia pitcher Vanessa Anne Stokes retired six straight batters sending the game into the top of the fourth with USA still holding on to their 2-0 lead.
After a fourth Traina strike out to start the fourth, Australia’s Leigh Godfrey singled to left to end the no-hitter bid for the USA pitcher. A fielder’s choice and fly out to second ended Australia’s hopes of scoring any runs in the fourth.
Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) walked to start the bottom of the fourth but two strikeouts and a fly ball to third base ended the inning.
Jordan Taylor (Valencia, Calif.) entered the circle for team USA in the top of the fifth picking up right where Traina left off. Australia’s Chelsea Forkin sent a fly ball to right field for the first out of the inning. Taylor picked up two strikeouts of her own in the next two at-bats and USA entered the bottom of the fifth still up by two.
USA’s bats came alive in the fifth when Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) singled to third and a throwing error from Australia third baseman Stacy Porter sent the ball rolling past first base and into the right field. The speedy Moultrie rounded all three bases and crossed home plate giving USA the 3-0 advantage.
In the top of the sixth Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif.) entered to pitch for Team USA. Continuing the dominance from the circle for the Americans, Ricketts retired the first three Australian batters she faced to send the game to the bottom of the inning.
With one out in the sixth, Fischer stepped back to the place and picked up her second double of the night with another long fly ball to the fence in center field.
Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) entered the batter’s box for the USA in the next at-bat. An error at third base put Chidester on first and gave the USA two runners for shortstop Molly Johnson (Lexington, Ky.). Johnson picked up a single to load the bases for the Red, White and Blue, however fly outs to first and second stranded the runners and ended the inning for the USA.
Entering the top of the seventh Ricketts returned to the circle for the USA to pick up three outs that would give her team the World Cup Championship. She did just that striking out two Australian batters and sitting down a third on a ground out to Johnson at shortstop.
The USA Women’s National Team is slated to compete July 4-9 at the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International Championship in Surrey, B.C., Canada. After that, the women head to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada July 13-22 for the International Softball Federation (ISF) Women’s World Championship. Looking to capture an eighth-consecutive Gold Medal, Team USA comes in as the defending World Champions, having defeated Japan in the Gold Medal game of the last edition of the event, which took place two years ago in Caracas, Venezuela.
Canada 11, Netherlands 8
The bats were busy at the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Hall of Fame Stadium on Monday, and when the dust cleared the Canada National Team (3-3) had an 11-8 win over the Netherlands National Team (3-3) in seven innings to capture third place in the 2012 World Cup of Softball presented by Lumber Liquidators.
The teams totaled 20 hits in the game trading runs for most of the contest, leading to four lead changes in the game.
Jennifer Yee racked up four RBIs on three hits for the Canadian National Team. She singled in the second and sixth innings and homered in the seventh inning.
Jenna Caira got her second 2012 World Cup win for the Canadian National Team despite allowing eight runs over six innings. Caira struck out six, walked two and gave up eight hits.
Dagmar Bloeming (1-2) took the loss for the Netherlands National Team. She lasted just two-thirds of an inning, walked none, struck out one, and allowed three runs.
Puerto Rico 4, Brazil 1
Aleimalee Lopez went 1-3 and hit a home run, helping the Puerto Rico National Team (1-5) to a 4-1 victory over the Brazilian National Team (1-5) on Monday to take fifth place in the 2012 World Cup of Softball.
Lopez’s homer came in the fourth inning.
Karla Claudio picked up the win for the Puerto Rico National Team. Claudio allowed one earned run, seven hits and no walks while striking out three over seven innings of work.
Martha Murazawa was hot from the plate for the Brazilian National Team. Murazawa went 1-3, drove in one and scored one run. She homered in the second inning.
Nilze Higa was charged with her third loss of the year. She lasted just five innings, walked none, struck out six, and allowed four runs.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed five World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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