Friday Night Action: Athletics-Mercado Vs. Team Japan

Here’s a quick trivia question for you: which nation won the last Olympic Gold Medal in softball?

The answer: Japan at the 2008 Summer Games held in Beijing, with the United States talking the Silver.

Not coincidentally, softball was voted out of the last two Olympics (2012 and 2016) but returns to the international stage in 2020 at the Games held in… Tokyo, Japan.

And while the U.S. hold the overall Gold medal lead at 3-to-1, Japan is just one behind in overall medals training the U.S. 4-to-3.

So for a team comprised of high school-aged softball players to play against the Japanese National Team, it would be a softball experience to remember forever and that was the case Friday night in Grand Terrace, California as the high school-aged players for Dave Mercado’s Athletics-Mercado club team played a pair of scrimmage games against Team Japan.

What was it like to play against one of the world’s top countries?

“It’s an honor for us to play against a team of this level,” said A’s-Mercado assistant coach Brian Pilon, whose daughter Presleigh, a 2020 middle infielder committed to LSU, participated in the action.

“The highlights on our side were short and few because this Japanese team is truly an amazing group of athletes,” Pilon continued. “It’s impressive how disciplined this team is; they showed up close to three hours before the game to warm up.”

“Their at bats were impressive and it was truly a learning experience for our team to see what the best in the world do. It’s easy to see why they are one of the best teams in the world and we wanted to make it very clear we were very much appreciative of this opportunity they gave us.”

As you would expect, Japan’s roster of experienced players comprising women in their 20’s and 30’s, dominated the action winning 13-0 and 11-2, but that wasn’t the point.

“It’s easy to why they are ranked No. 1 in the country,” Pilon laughed, “but it wasn’t the score of the games, it was the opportunity to play on the same field as a team as good as Team Japan which is the real story.”

The Athletics invited one of the top young pitchers in the nation—Megan Faraimo, a 2018 grad who plays for the Corona Angels and has signed with UCLA—to join them for the evening.

“We actually had two pitchers pitch each game to give all of them the opportunity and Megan joined us so she could get the opportunity to pitch against Team Japan.”

Faraimo and another future Bruin hurler—2019 grad Lexi Sosa—pitched the last game and continued Coach Pilon: “They pitched a great game, but Team Japan can hit and came up very big a few times.”

Offensive highlights for the A’s included infielder Paige Smith (2019, Ole Miss), P/UT Alycia Flores (2019, Oklahoma) and Sosa each coming up with two hits during the pair of scrimmages, but the biggest hit of the evening for the host team came from Presleigh Pilon who smashed a two-run home run to center giving the A’s their only two runs of the evening.

“The opportunity for our girls to face one of the best teams in the world,” concluded Pilon. “This was a great thing for us and we are very thankful for Team Japan to set this up with us.”