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The competition at the Junior Pan American Games in Barranquilla, Columbia continues and Team USA rolled on Monday and Tuesday with another pair of victories, but after winning big in the first two wins—beating Argentina 9-0 on Saturday and blasting Columbia on Sunday 29-0—the games are getting more competitive.
Click HERE to see the recaps of those initial games for the Red, White & Blue which included pitching and hitting star Valerie Cagle smacking three home runs and collecting 10 RBIs—in one inning!
Team USA entered the tournament as the world-ranked No. 2 team and played alongside No. 30 Peru, No. 32 Argentina and No. 40 Colombia in Group A while No. 4 Mexico, No. 5 Puerto Rico, No. 11 Venezuela and No. 14 Brazil have battled it out in Group B.
Note that the Junior Pan American Championship Finals is tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. EST—first, however, the Americans play Mexico tonight.
Below are the results from the last two days that helped Team USA advance (write-ups and photos courtesy of USA Softball).
Live game stats are available through USASoftball.com and the WBSC is providing live streaming which can be accessed by clicking here.
Also, you can click HERE to see our event preview including the Team USA Roster.
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Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021: Team USA posts 4-0 shutout over Puerto Rico to remain undefeated at Junior Pan American Games; Advances to Final Round
Kicking off the Super Round as the No. 1 seed in Group A, the USA Softball U-18 Women’s National Team (WNT) improved to 4-0 after an outstanding performance in the circle from Valerie Cagle (Yorktown, Va.) and clutch hitting from the U.S. offense sealed the 4-0 shutout win over Puerto Rico.
Tuesday night’s win advanced Team USA to the Junior Pan American Games Final Round set to take place Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET. Cagle went the distance in the circle, racking up an impressive 17 strikeouts while limiting the Puerto Rico offense to just two hits in seven innings.
The U.S. offense extended its home run streak to four-straight games, with Kinsey Fiedler (Summit, Mo.) sending one out of the park today in addition to clutch hitting from Keely Williams (Cibolo, Texas), Violet Zavodnik (Murrieta, Calif.), Olivia Johnson (Pearland, Texas), Erin Coffel (Bremen, Ind.) and Cagle who each tallied one hit apiece.
Cagle came out firing in the top of the first, retiring the first three batters she faced with a strikeout to send the U.S. to the plate. Remaining consistent with early scoring for the third-straight game,
Fiedler quickly gave Team USA a one-run edge after crushing a ball over the right field fence. Coffel would look to continue the offense with a double to right field, but a fly out and strikeout would leave her stranded.
Continuing her dominance in the top of the second, Cagle added three more K’s to the column for a quick 1-2-3 inning while Puerto Rico returned the favor to the U.S. offense in the bottom of the frame.
The U.S. defense continued to make quick work of the Puerto Rico offense in the top of the third as Cagle fanned two more batters followed by a ground out to Fiedler to retire the side.
The Eagles would look to get something started in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff single from Williams, but a ground out and a double play from the Puerto Rico defense would end the at-bat.
Puerto Rico gained its first base runner of the game in the top of the fourth but a strikeout and two flash-of-the-leather plays up the middle from Fiedler would leave the runner stranded.
Back-to-back base hits from Cagle and Zavodnik in the bottom of the frame would set the stage for Maci Bergeron (Rayne, La.) who sent a sac-fly to right field to plate another run and extend the U.S. lead, 2-0.
Puerto Rico would look to respond in the top of the fifth with a two-out double to left field, but Cagle fired back with a quick strikeout to end the inning. The Red, White and Blue would add to their lead in the bottom of the frame with a clutch two-out single from Fiedler to score Johnson who walked earlier in the inning.
Three-straight walks to Coffel, Cagle and Zavodnik would allow another U.S. run to score, improving their lead to 4-0 through five innings. Puerto Rico would put another runner on in the top of the sixth with a one-out single, but Cagle retired the next two batters with a strikeout to keep them off the board.
A scoreless at-bat from Team USA in the bottom of the sixth sent the U.S. defense back to the field for the last three outs of the game, which featured three final strikeouts from Cagle to seal the 4-0 win for the Red, White and Blue.
Team USA will conclude the Super Round tonight at 7 p.m. ET against Mexico before Thursday’s finale.
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Monday, Nov. 29, 2021: U-18 Women’s National Team concludes Opening Round of Junior Pan Ams with 13-0 shutout over Peru; Earns Group A No. 1 seed for Super Round
The USA Softball U-18 Women’s National Team improved to 3-0 on Monday at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games after posting a 13-0 (four innings) win over No. 30 Peru to close out the Opening Round.
In their third-straight shutout win of the tournament, the U.S. offense combined for 11 hits on the day with Kinsey Fiedler (Summit, Mo.), Keely Williams (Cibolo, Texas) and Olivia Johnson (Pearland, Texas) leading the way with two hits apiece.
The longball streak continued for the Eagles as two home runs off the bats of Williams and Violet Zavodnik (Murrieta, Calif.) increased the home run total to 10 through three games.
Kicking things off as the visiting team, Williams quickly lit a spark for the Eagles with a leadoff home run over the right field fence to put the U.S. on top, 1-0. A fielding miscue by the Peru defense followed by a walk would put two runners on for Maci Bergeron (Rayne, La.) who pushed a single through the left side to plate two.
Alissa Humphrey (Micanopy, Fla.) came out firing in the circle for Team USA, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts and a ground out to end the inning.
The bats continued in the top of the second for the Red, White and Blue as Joecellia Roberts (Modesto, Calif.) led off the inning with a double followed by a walk to Williams. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Zavodnik delivered with a shot over the right field fence to extend the U.S. lead, 6-0.
Remaining solid on defense, Team USA issued a quick 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame thanks to two strikeouts from Humphrey and a line out to Fiedler.
The U.S. would extend their lead in the top of the third after doubles from Fiedler, Rylee Holtorf (Peoria, Ariz.) and Johnson followed by a single from Williams would push three runs across to put the Red, White and Blue ahead, 9-0.
For the third straight inning, Humphrey and the U.S. defense would retire the Peru offense in order to return to their final at-bat of the game.
Refusing to let off the gas, the Eagles tacked on four more runs in the top of the fourth to extend their lead 13-0. A single from Erin Coffel (Bremen, Ind.) and a walk from Bergeron would put runners in scoring position for Fiedler who crushed a line drive to right field to score one. A fielder’s choice from Holtorf and an infield RBI from Roberts plated two more runs followed by a single up the middle from Johnson to plate the final run of the game.
The Peru offense gained their first baserunner of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but the U.S. defense stranded the runner with a nicely fielded bunt and two strikeouts from Humphrey to seal the 13-0 win. Humphrey dominated in the circle, retiring seven batters via a strikeout while limiting the Peru offense to just one hit in four innings.
After posting three straight wins with a combined total of 51 runs scored, Team USA secured the No. 1 spot in Group A and before advancing to the first matchup of the Super Round Tuesday.