BARRANQUILLA, Colombia –– The USA Softball U-18 Women’s National Team improved to 3-0 at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games after posting a 13-0 (four innings) win over No. 30 Peru to close out 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 will return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET for the first matchup of the Super Round. Live stats will be available through USASoftball.com.Team USA will join the No. 2 seed from Group A as well as the No. 1 and 2 seeds from Group B in the Super Round with the final two countries at the top of the leader board going head-to-head in the Junior Pan American Championship on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET. The third and fourth-place teams will compete for the bronze medal earlier that day.

By Bruce Miles

By Bruce Miles

By Bruce Miles

By Bruce Miles

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Japan captured its second consecutive gold medal with a  2-0 win over the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Yukiko Ueno provided six shutout innings and her squad scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to earn the shutout victory.

For the fifth time in as many Olympics the sport has been played, the U.S. softball team will be playing for a gold medal.Amanda Chidester’s two-run, walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled the U.S. past Australia 2-1 Sunday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium in Yokohama, Japan. Monica Abbott struck out 13 while allowing just three hits for the U.S., while Tarni Stepto scattered five hits for Australia.By virtue of winning its first four games of pool play, the top-ranked Americans clinched a shot at their fourth gold medal Tuesday. They will play either second-ranked Japan (3-0) or third-ranked Canada (2-1) — who play one another later Sunday — for gold. The format for these Olympics is the top two teams in pool play will battle for gold, while the third- and fourth-place teams vie for bronze.The U.S. wraps up pool play Monday against Japan, who beat the Americans 3-1 for the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the last time softball was played in the Games.Offense has been hard to come by in the Olympics for the U.S. The same was true against Australia. Center fielder Haylie McCleney led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple to right field but was thrown out at the plate two batters later. The U.S. had two on with one out in the third, but a double play erased that threat. Two more runners reached in the fifth, but Australia got out of it unscathed.Abbott, one of two returning Olympians on the U.S. team (along with fellow pitcher Cat Osterman), had to work out of one jam, which came in the sixth inning. Australia put the first two runners on before Abbott got back-to-back pop outs. Abbott’s second walk of the inning loaded the bases, but she struck out pinch-hitter Michelle Cox for her 10th punchout of the game.With the score tied 0-0 the game moved to extra innings. In the top of the eighth — which started with a runner at second base — Abbott uncharacteristically walked three batters, forcing in a run. It was the first allowed by the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics.With Ally Carda pinch-running at second to start the bottom of the inning, McCleney singled to shortstop and Janie Reed bunted the runners to second and third. Chidester then drilled the first pitch she saw from Stepto into the left-center gap, easily scoring Carda and McCleney and sending the U.S. to the gold-medal game.

TOKYO, Japan –– Behind the arm of Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.), the U.S. Olympic Softball Team edged past No. 3 Canada with a 1-0 shutout win in Game 2 of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Abbott tossed a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts while limiting the Canada offense to one hit through seven innings.  The U.S. offense combined for seven hits on the day with Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) pushing their solo run across the plate in the top of fifth.

TOKYO, Japan –– The U.S. Olympic Softball Team returned to the Olympic stage in shutout fashion today as the Red, White and Blue posted a 2-0 victory over No. 9 Italy in their Tokyo 2020 Olympic debut. Highlighting the day was Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) who put the Eagles on the board first with an RBI single, while starting pitcher Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) posted a nine-strikeout performance before Monica Abbott (Salinas, Calif.) closed out the win in the seventh inning.