Pan-Am Games: Team USA Cruises To 16-0, Three Inning Win Over Peru

Pan-Am Games: Team USA Cruises To 16-0, Three Inning Win Over Peru

Pan-Am Games: Team USA Cruises To 16-0, Three Inning Win Over Peru

Aug 7, 2017 by FloSoftball Staff
Pan-Am Games: Team USA Cruises To 16-0, Three Inning Win Over Peru
It was another offensively fueled evening as the USA Softball Women's National Team (WNT) cruised to a 16-0 (three innings) win over Peru at the Pan American Championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Americans totaled 11 hits in the win, with four U.S. batters having a multi-hit night, including Delaney Spaulding (Rancho Cucamonga, California) and Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, California) who each had a home run in the game.

Danielle O'Toole (Upland, California) got the start in the circle for Team USA and retired her first two batters with a strikeout before Peru recorded their sole base runner of the game with a single to left field. O'Toole fired back with a strikeout, however, to keep the runner from advancing.

A leadoff walk to Haylie McCleney (Morris, Alabama) got the U.S. offense rolling in the bottom of the first. Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kansas) followed with a hard-hit ground ball up the middle before a fly out to right field moved both runners a base. The second walk of the at-bat to Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Michigan) loaded the bases and another walk to Arioto plated the first run of the game. A heads-up base running decision by Stewart allowed her to also score on the walk, putting Team USA up 2-0 after the first inning of play.

Three consecutive strikeouts from O'Toole brought the U.S. back to plate. Team USA was relentless in the bottom of the second, scoring 14 runs to take control of the game. A leadoff single from Aubree Munro (Brea, California) led off the at-bat and she moved to second on a defensive error, to third on a single from McCleney, and to home plate on a dropped fly ball. Spaulding then crushed the ball over the center field fence to plate three and give the Americans a six-run edge.

The scoring didn't stop there as back-to-back singles from Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Michigan) and Arioto added another run. Jazmyn Jackson (San Jose, California) walked to put two runners on base for Team USA, and a ball in the dirt allowed both to advance a base to put two in scoring position. Munro's second single of the inning plated the two runners, making it a nine-run lead for the U.S.

Walks to Janie Takeda (Placentia, California) and McCleney kept the offense going to load the bases and Hannah Flippen (San Diego, California), who entered as a courtesy runner for Munro, scored on a wild pitch. With runners on second and third, Stewart was hit by a pitch to again put a runner on each base. A line drive single to right field by Spaulding plated another two runs, and Chidester followed suit with a double to center to bring home another two. Arioto then sent a ball sailing over the center field fence for the second home run of the at-bat, giving the U.S. a 16-0 lead after two innings of play.

A strikeout, pop out to Munro, and ground out to O'Toole in the circle ended the game via the run-rule, with Team USA taking away the win.

Spaulding paced the U.S. offense, going 2-for-3 with five RBIs and two runs scored, while Arioto picked up four RBIs in a perfect 2-for-2 outing with two runs scored. Each U.S. batter scored at least once in the three-inning contest, with McCleney and Stewart each touching home three times.

O'Toole earned the win in the circle, pitching all three frames with six strikeouts and only one hit allowed.

The remaining schedule for Team USA has been adjusted due to weather. Up next, the U.S. will face the Dominican Republic at 6:30 PM ET tomorrow and remaining pool play games are as follows: Venezuela (August 8 -- 2 PM ET), Aruba and Puerto Rico (August 9 -- 2 PM ET and 4 PM ET) and Colombia (August 10 -- 2 PM ET). Live stats will also be available for fans to follow along through USASoftball.com.

About USA Softball
USA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation's largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million. USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch. USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships. The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation's largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.


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