WBSC U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup: USA Top Seed in Group “A” Heading into Super Round

The U-19 Women’s National Team (WNT) completed its final game of pool play with an 8-0, five inning victory over Czech Republic.

With the win, the team secured the top spot in Group A heading into the Super Round at the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup.

“We’re really proud of being able to win our pool and being able to put together some dominate, high powered offense and come out of it having all of our pitchers throw and being able to throw shutouts,” said U-19 WNT Head Coach Heather Tarr (Redmond, Wash./Head Coach at Washington).

Kelley Lynch (Newnan, Ga.) started in the circle for Team USA giving up no hits with four strikeouts in three innings of work.

Rylee Trlicek (Hallettsville, Texas) came in in relief and registered two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.

Lexi Kilfoyl (Land O’Lakes, Fla.) entered the circle for the final batter to add another strikeout and secure the win for the Eagles.

Team USA’s pitching has been dominant through the first three games of the 2019 WBSC World Cup totaling 27 strikeouts and zero hits through 12 shutout innings.

Among the 16 competing teams, Team USA’s 27 strikeouts leads the tournament while playing only 12 innings.

“The fortunate part for us is that we have five arms that can get us through this entire tournament,” Tarr said. “So it is important that we keep them ready and available for us.”

The bats were on fire yet again for The U.S. A single from Charla Echols (Newnan, Ga.) got the Eagles on the board in the first inning with her fourth RBI of the tournament before Bailey Dowling (St. Joseph, Ill.) increased the first inning lead to 5-0 with a three-run home run to center.

“I was just trying to be calm and relaxed,” Dowling said. “I have been somewhat struggling a little bit and I just tried to get everything out of my mind and have a clear mind when I went up to bat.”

Two more runs would come across in the third inning and Julia Cottrill (Stillwater, Okla.) doubled in the fourth inning to drive in Jayda Coleman (The Colony, Tx.).

The bats for Team USA have been hot, totaling 36 hits over the past three games. Skylar Wallace (Woodstock, Ga.) added to her tournament-leading seven hits today with a single in the bottom of the first inning.

“I think the best thing that is going through my head right now is just do what you do best, don’t try to do too much and just get on base, hit the ball hard and get the leadoff on,” Wallace said. “I just try to do the best I can to start it off and get a little rally going.”

Team USA advances to the Super Round as the top-seeded team in Group A and will face Canada on August 13 at 8 p.m. PST.

“We continue to improve every single pitch we get to play together,” Tarr said. “I have been impressed with our focus and our desire to improve together and I think it has reflected in our play during games.”

Free live streaming of all games and live stats will be available throughout the WBSC U-19 World Cup and fans at home can follow along with recaps and more at USASoftball.com.

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WBSC U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup

August 11-17 | Irvine, Calif.

• Group A: Team USA, Mexico, Czech Republic, Botswana
• Group B: Japan, Australia, Italy, South Africa
• Group C: Puerto Rico, China, Brazil, Ireland
• Group D: Canada, Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, New Zealand