Surrey, B.C. – Jackie Traina (Naples, Fla.) threw a no hitter and Valerie Arioto hit two home runs in the USA Softball Women’s National team’s 7-0, five inning run rule of New Zealand on Friday the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced today. Traina picked up four strikeouts and only walked one batter in the game while Arioto added five RBI on the offensive side in Team USA’s fourth win in the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship.
“I honestly didn’t realize until the last inning that they didn’t have any hits,” said Traina. “It’s a really good feeling because it’s the first time I’ve had a no hitter for Team USA.”
Click here to find box scores from today’s game
Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) led off the game for Team USA with a single to left field. Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md.) and Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nevada) followed her lead with two infield singles of their own loading the bases for Samantha Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif.). With no outs Fischer popped a sacrifice fly to center field to score Cochran and give USA a 1-0 lead after one inning.
Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga.) picked up a single in the bottom of the second but USA failed to score any runs and after two innings the score remained USA 1, New Zealand 0.
In the third inning the USA bats really came to life. Gibson got things started with a lead-off single to left field. May-Johnson advanced to first on a walk and Fischer laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. With one out Valerie Arioto (Pleasantville, Calif.) tagged a three-run shot over the centerfield wall. It was her sixth homerun of the 2012 season and third of the Canadian Open. After three complete innings the score was USA 4, New Zealand 0
In the top of the forth New Zealand got their first base runner of the game by way of a walk but they couldn’t capitalize as Traina picked up the third out by way of a popup to short stop.
Gibson lead off the fourth inning for the USA with a double that narrowly missed clearing the centerfield fence. In the next at-bat May-Johnson followed Gibson’s lead hitting an RBI double and giving the USA a 5-0 advantage.
Two batters later Valerie Arioto stepped back to the plate fresh off her three-run homer one inning before. With one out and a runner at second, Arioto blasted her second homerun of the game over the wall. This, a two-run bomb, gave the USA a 7-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning New Zealand needed at least one run to extend the game and avoid run rule. Traina, determined to put an end to the game, retired their first three batters to secure the win.
The victory moved Team USA to 4-0 in the tournament and was their eleventh win in the 2012 season. Traina picked up her second win as a member of the USA National Team. In 16 innings pitched, the Florida native has recorded 16 strikeouts and currently holds a 0.44 ERA.
On the offensive side, Valerie Arioto extended her 2012 Team USA batting average to .636. In 11 games she has 14 hits, 14 runs scored, and 19 RBI.
Next up for Team USA in the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship is a double header including a 1:00 PM (PST) matchup with Canada and 6:30 PM (PST) game versus Japan.Please visit USASoftball.com/ to follow live stats from all of the USA’s games at the Canadian Open FP International Championship.
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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