USA Softball: Two More Wins for Team USA Over the Weekend at Pan American U-17 Fastpitch Championship

U-17 Women’s National Team Continues win streak at Pan American Championship after racking up 10 hits in 8-1 victory over Mexico

Continuing their win streak at the U-17 Women’s Pan American Championship, the USA Softball U-17 Women’s National Team (WNT) earned an 8-1 win over Mexico at Edgardo Schemel Stadium on Sunday to remain perfect in pool play.

Avery Hodge (Fulshear, Texas) drew a walk to lead off the game but was called out advancing to second after Maddie Gallagher (Port Washington, N.Y.) grounded into a fielder’s choice. A strikeout and groundout followed to leave the U.S. scoreless while Mexico drove in a run in the bottom half of the frame for a 1-0 score.

Both sides were retired in order through the second inning, while the sole runner in the third frame reached first via a one-out walk for Mexico. However, the U.S. forced a zero on the scoreboard for Mexico after a strikeout from Dani Drogemuller (Frankfort, Ill.) and fielder’s choice play to second baseman Tieley Vaughn (Tampa, Fla.).

It was Jessie Blaine (Wentzville, Mo.) who put the U.S. on top in the fourth inning, sending a fly ball deep past the centerfield fence to bring home Gallagher and Caitlynn Neal (Dewey, Ariz.) who reached on a single and hit-by-pitch.

IT’S GONE ‼️

USA takes the lead after a three-run 💣 by Jessie Blaine!#U17SoftballPanAm pic.twitter.com/wM4pDkqe30

— USA Softball (@USASoftball) October 13, 2019

Hallie Wacaser (Centerton, Ark.) followed with a fly ball to left field for a single before crossing home two outs later on an RBI double from Jocelyn Erickson (Phoenix, Ariz.).

Despite a one-out double from Mexico in the bottom half of the fourth inning, the Red, White and Blue kept Mexico at bay after a fly out to centerfield and pop out stranded the runner at second.

Claire Ginder (Lithia, Fla.) and Hodge drew walks to lead off the top of the fifth frame and advanced on a sac bunt from Gallagher. A wild pitch allowed Ginder to score from third and a walk to Neal put runners on the corners. Blaine then lined one to centerfield to collect her fourth RBI of the night and give the U.S. a 6-1 lead.

Retiring Mexico in order for the second time today, the U.S. returned to the plate and plated a seventh run in the sixth inning following an RBI single from Casey Goguts (Reading, Pa.).

Mexico came close in the bottom half of the frame after three batters were hit-by-pitch to load the bases with two outs. A dropped third strike allowed catcher Goguts made the third out at home.

In the seventh, Hodge had a leadoff single and Blaine was intentionally walked two outs later to put runners on for the U.S. Wacaser singled on a hard groundball up the middle to give Hodge time to score from second and extend the lead, 8-1.

The U.S. defense secured the win in the bottom half of the frame to earn their third win of the tournament.

The U.S. collected 10 hits for the day, with both Blaine and Wacaser tallying two apiece.

Starting pitcher Drogemuller pitched four innings, surrendering one run on three hits and striking out three. Harris entered the circle in relief and struck out eight batters in her three innings of work.

The U.S. squad has a day off before returning to action on Tuesday, October 15 at 11:00 a.m. CT against Argentina.

Live stats will be available through USASoftball.com while WBSC has provided streaming through Gametime.Sport.

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U-17 Women’s National Team Blanks Brazil for Win #2 at Pan American Championship

In their second showing at the 2019 U-17 Women’s Softball Pan American Championship at Edgardo Schemel Stadium, the U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team (WNT) shutout Brazil, 5-0, on Saturday after pitchers Kaci West (Liberty, Texas) and Madison Harris (Forest, Va.) combined for the win.

Leading off the bottom of the first for the U.S. was Avery Hodge (Fulshear, Texas) who took first after a hit-by-pitch and after advancing to second on a sac bunt from Riley Blampied (Cordele, Ga.), Casey Goguts (Reading, Pa.) singled home Hodge with a single up the middle to put the Red, White and Blue on the board.

Three straight singles from Hallie Wacaser (Centerton, Ark.), West, and Rachael Jones (Bennington, Vt.) loaded the bases quickly in the bottom half of the second inning. One out later, Wacaser tagged up on a fly ball left off the bat of Hodge to score the second run before West came around the bases to score on the throw home.

Brazil doubled to lead off the third frame and while a groundout allowed the runner to advance to third, West and the U.S. defense followed with a strikeout and fly out to keep Brazil at zero. Meanwhile, the U.S. tacked on a fourth run in the bottom half of the inning after Goguts scored on a bases-loaded groundout to the first baseman.

The score remained 4-0 in favor of the U.S. through the fourth inning and while Harris entered the circle to start the fifth to keep Brazil scoreless, the U-17 WNT was kept from extending their own lead in the bottom half of the frame.

Retiring the Brazilian lineup in order through the top of the sixth, the U.S. tacked on a fifth run after Maddie Gallagher (Port Washington, N.Y.) tagged up on a fly ball to centerfield from Hodge. The U-17 WNT closed out the game and earned the 5-0 win after retiring Brazil for the fourth time.

The U.S. squad tallied nine hits with Hallie Wacaser (Centerton, Ark.) and Goguts collecting two hits apiece.

Through four innings of work, West allowed just two hits and zero runs and struck out two batters. Harris threw three innings in relief and struck out six while keeping Brazil off the bags.

“Some stand-up performances from Hallie and Madison today,” said Head Coach Kyla Holas (Pasadena, Texas). “I thought Hallie had some great at-bats and Madison was the first pitcher to not give up a walk in her first start.”

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Road to the Championship

A total of 33 games will be played across nine days as participating countries battle it out to qualify for the 2020 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup.

The 10 participating countries were drawn into two groups.

Competing in Pool A, the U.S. is slated for additional matchups against No. 5 Mexico on October 13 at 4:30 p.m. CT and No. 25 Argentina on October 15 at 11:30 a.m. CT after improving to 2-0 in pool play.

Following the conclusion of pool play, the top three finishers will advance to the Super Rounds for a six-team, round-robin schedule.

The top two teams from the Super Rounds will compete for the Pan American Championship Final on October 19 at 6 p.m. CT while the third and fourth-place teams will compete for the Bronze Medal.

2019 U-17 Women’s Pan American Championship Results (USA)

October 11-19, 2019 | Barranquilla, Colombia