USA takes two more in Canada
7/5/2012
2012 Team USA Cumulative Stats
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- In their second day of action at the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championships the USA Softball Women’s National team picked up two run-rule victories on Thursday to move to 3-0 in the tournament and extend their 2012 international winning streak to 10 straight games the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced today. In their first game Team USA beat Puerto Rico 8-0 in five innings. The tournament’s final game of the day pitted a rematch between 2012 World Cup of Softball finalists USA and Australia. Team USA picked up their third win of the year against the Australians by a final of 7-0.
Click here to find box scores of both games
USA 8, Puerto Rico 0
Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa) established herself from the start in the circle for USA picking up two strikeouts and sitting down the first three Puerto Rico batters in the top of the first. USA was equally as impressive on offense jumping on the board early in the bottom of the inning when Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nev.) singled with two outs and Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) followed it with an RBI double. With Chidester standing on second base Valerie Arioto stepped to the plate and gave USA it’s first homerun of the Canadian Open. The two-run shot was Arioto’s fourth homer of the 2012 season and gave USA a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the second Puerto Rico got their first hit of the game when Nicole Springer singled to right field but Thomas picked up two more strikeouts in the next two at-bats, stranding Springer on first base.
In the bottom of the second USA picked up where they had left off in the first inning. Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) led off with a single and Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) followed it up with a double. Two batters later May-Johnson drew a walk to load the bases for Team USA. Chidester grounded into a fielder’s choice giving USA two outs in the inning but the bases were still loaded as Arioto stepped back into the batter’s box. With a 3-1 count the California native sent the next pitch over the center field wall for a four-run grand slam. At the end of the second inning USA held a 7-0 lead.
“My teammates are doing a great job of getting on base and giving me the opportunity to hit them in,” said Arioto. “I think we came out today with high energy and hopefully we can carry that over to our other games.”
Thomas struck out two more in the top of the third not allowing a hit for Puerto Rico. In the bottom half of the frame, a Christi Orgeron (New Orleans, La.) leadoff single and two walks loaded the bases again for the USA. With no outs, Cochran grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Orgeron from third base giving USA an 8-0 lead.
USA continued their defensive control in the fourth and fifth innings to pick up the 8-0 (5 innings) run-rule victory. Chelsea Thomas went the complete five innings striking out eight batters and surrendering only two hits. It was Thomas’ fourth win for the USA in 2012. In 20.2 innings pitched, Thomas has recorded 32 strikeouts and only given up one run. She currently holds a 0.34 ERA.
USA 7, Australia 0
In their second game of the day USA started much like they did in the first. For the first time in the 2012 campaign Team USA entered the game as the visiting team. Cochran reached on a dropped third strike to lead off. Rhea Taylor followed by getting hit by a pitch and giving the Americans two base runners. Stacy May-Johnson advanced the runners with a ground ball back to the pitcher in the next at-bat. With runners at second and third, Samantha Fischer (Simi Valley, Calif.) came through with a double to center field scoring two for Team USA. With Fischer on base an Arioto single and Jenea Leles (Sacrament, Calif.) walk loaded the bases forcing Australia into their first pitching change opting for Zara Mee. Molly Johnson (Lexington, Ky.) stepped to the plate to face the new pitch and hit a long sacrifice fly ball to center field scoring Fischer from third.
In the bottom half of the first Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif.) entered the circle for the USA. Aside from hitting one batter Ricketts was perfect in the inning as USA fielded three ground balls to retire the side.
Neither team scored runs in the second inning leaving the USA with their 3-0 advantage heading into the third inning.
Fischer picked up her second hit of the game in the top of the third prompting Australia to make their second pitching change of the evening bringing in Aimee Murch. Three batters later, with runners at first and second Molly Johnson doubled to score Fischer giving her a second RBI for the game. In the next at-bat Moultrie picked up an RBI when she singled scoring Arioto.
Ricketts again didn’t allow a hit in the third and the score was USA 5, Australia 0 entering the fourth inning.
In the top of the fourth with two outs and a runner in scoring position, Fischer stepped to the plate for the third time in the game. With a double, a single and two RBI credited to her name Fischer kept the streak going with another RBI double scoring Rhea Taylor from second. In the next at-bat Arioto singled to bring in Fischer giving USA a 7-0 lead.
Australia failed to pick up a hit in the fourth as Ricketts carried her two hitter into the fifth inning. Jessica Shults picked up a single in the top of the fifth but the USA failed to put together any more runs and after five and a half inning still held a 7-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth Australia needed at least one run to extend the game and avoid a run rule but Ricketts, facing the seven, eight and nine hole batters retired the side picking up her third USA win in 2012 and her second in this year’s Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championships. Ricketts finished the game only giving up two hits in five innings pitched. She walked one and struck out four.
With the win Team USA moves to 3-0 in the tournament and remains tied for first place in the rankings. Next up for the USA Softball Women’s National team is a 3:30 PST matchup with New Zealand on Friday, July 6. Visit www.USASoftball.com for standingss and box scores from all of the Canadian Open games.
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/.