WHITEHORSE, Y.T. – The USA Softball Women’s National team captured two more wins at the International Softball Federation (ISF) World Championships on Wednesday the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced today.
In their first game of the day, a make-up game with China, USA came away with the 13-0 (four innings) win. Resuming their regular schedule later in the day, Team USA faced the Netherlands and came away with the 4-0 victory. With the wins, USA extended their record to 6-0 and earned the No. 1 seed in their pool when they enter the playoff portion of the tournament on Friday, July 20.
USA 13, China 0
To start the day, Team USA faced China at 9:00 AM (PT) in a make-up game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was delayed due to rain. Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif.) threw the complete-game no-hitter for the USA. In four innings she struck out four of the 15 batters she faced. With the win, Ricketts improved her tournament record to 2-0 and her 2012 USA record to 7-0.
USA first baseman Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) led the way from the plate going 3-for-3 with two singles and a grand slam home run. She finished the game with seven RBI. Arioto improved her 2012 Team USA batting average to .575 and increased her total RBI count to 37 for the year.
“We were really aggressive in the first inning,” said Arioto. “Our first few batters really gave us some momentum and started a rally. Then Keilani (Ricketts) shut it down from there.”
Despite the early start, the USA bats were ready as the Americans jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md.) got things going with a single and two batters later Arioto singled to score the first two USA runs. A dropped fly ball to the left fielder in Samantha Fischer’s (Simi Valley, Calif.) at-bat scored the third run of the inning for the USA.
Catcher Ashley Holcombe (Fayetteville, Ga.) lead off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run to give USA the 4-0 advantage. Two singles and an error had the bases loaded for Team USA as Arioto stepped to the plate. A hard hit line drive down the left field line easily cleared the fence for a grand slam making the score USA 8, China 0.
In the bottom of the third inning USA batted around the order picking up four more runs on five hits and three China errors. When the final out of the inning was made, USA held a 13-0 advantage.
China needed four runs in the top of the fourth to extend the game but Ricketts and the USA defense wouldn’t allow it. An error and a hit batter gave the Chinese two base runners in the inning but the USA allowed no more as they closed the game in the fourth.
With the win, USA secured it’s fourth consecutive run-rule victory and increased it’s ISF World Championship win margin to 60-0.
USA 4, Netherlands 0
Later in the day the USA found themselves in a defensive battle with the Netherlands as it took until the bottom of the fourth inning before the first run was scored in the game. Jordan Taylor (Valencia, Calif.) got the start and win at pitcher for the USA. In four and a third innings, Taylor struck out seven batters and surrendered just two hits. In the top of the fourth, Jackie Traina (Naples, Fla.) entered in relief and closed out the final two and two-third innings. Traina struck out four of the 10 batters she faced.
Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) led off the bottom of the first with a single for the USA but was retired on a fielder’s choice later in the inning. Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nevada) and Arioto reached base in the inning on walks but USA could not capitalize with runs.
On the defensive side, Taylor retired the first nine Netherlands batters that she face before finally surrendering a hit in the top of the fourth inning.
In the meantime, USA also struggled to get base runners in the second and third innings. Moultrie reached on a single to start the bottom of the third but was caught attempting to steal second base. A line drive caught by the third baseman and a strikeout ended the third with the score still tied at 0.
USA finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Arioto began the inning with singles. Two batters later, with two outs, Holcombe hit an RBI single to right field scoring Cochran and giving USA a 1-0 lead.
With one out in the top of the fifth, the Netherlands picked up their second hit of the game from Taylor prompting USA to go to Traina in a relief effort. Traina retired the next two batters she face in the fifth to end the top half of the inning.
USA padded their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Arioto reached base on a walk and Fischer singled to bring Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) to the plate with two runners on base. With one out, Chidester connected sending the ball into the left field bleachers and adding three more runs to the USA lead. The hit extended a streak to three straight games played that Chidester has homered.
Down to their final at-bat, the Netherlands picked up one hit in the top of the seventh but failed to score any runs.
With the wins, USA moves to 6-0 at the ISF World Championships and have secured the No. 1 overall seed from their pool heading into Friday’s playoff portion of the tournament. USA has outscored it’s opponents 64-0 in their six games. The USA will next play Argentina on Thursday, July 19 at 2:00 PM (PT) in their final pool-play game. The playoffs are scheduled to begin on Friday, July 20. Please visit www.USAsoftball.comfor links to live stats and live streaming of all Team USA’s games.