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2015 Pan American Games – Men’s Softball Day 3 Summary
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Venezuela 3 vs. United States 1
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This was a very good matchup to open the day, with Ramon Jones pitching for the second consecutive day for Venezuela and the United States countering with Josh Johnson. Both teams were able to put runners on base in each of the first two innings but were unable to open the scoring. After Venezuela went down in order in the top of the third, the Americans got on the board on a pair of singles by Chris Miljavic and Derrick Zechman, and an error by the left fielder on Zechman’s single allowed Miljavic to score to take a 1-0 lead. Venezuela got that run right back on a solo homerun by Jorge Lima in the top of the fourth, with the pitchers taking over from there with only three batters reaching over the next two and a half innings. Venezuela loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh and scored two runs on a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded hit by pitch to take a 3-1 lead, and the United States was unable to get anything going in the bottom of the seventh. Jones allowed four hits and struck out 12 in the complete game win, while Johnson only allowed five hits and struck out four in six innings and a third.
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Mexico 4 vs. Dominican Republic 2
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Another great game between two evenly matched teams. The Dominican Republic got one runner on base in each of the first three innings but was unable to move any of them, while Mexico got two baserunners on the first but went down in order in the second and third innings. In the bottom of the fourth, the Dominican Republic managed a pair of two-out singles two put runners on second and third but Mexican pitcher Samuel Villalvazo got a big strikeout to leave them stranded. Mexico fed off that strikeout and got a leadoff triple by Marco Gonzalez followed by a double to left by Jorge Rios to open the scoring. Rios later scored on a double by Ismael Pena off the third baseman’s glove for the second run. Mexico added another insurance run on an RBI single by Erick Ochoa, but the Dominican Republic loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth before scoring two runs on a single by Juan Nunez. Mexico got a big home to first double play on a ground ball to the pitcher, and the runner on third was picked off after venturing too far on a passed ball that didn’t bounce far enough from the catcher. Mexico added a solo homerun by Pena in the top of the seventh, and the Dominican Republic was unable to get much gong in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
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Canada 9 vs. Argentina 3
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Canada did not waste any time getting on the board in this one as Jeff Ellsworth hit a two-run homerun over the left field fence in the top of the first inning. Huemul Mata responded with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the inning, and Argentina took advantage of an error to score a run on a sacrifice fly by Manuel Godoy and a run-scoring single by Gustavo Godoy to take a 3-2 lead after four innings. However, Canada responded with six runs in the top of the fifth as Kevin Schellenberg hit an RBI single to tie the game, Steve Mullaley hit a go-ahead two-run single followed by a run-scoring single by Andy Skelton and a two-run double by Derek Mayson as Canada took control with an 8-3 lead. Mullaley hit an RBI triple in the sixth to round out the scoring, and Sean Cleary retired the last 10 batters he faced, earning the complete game win with 11 strikeouts.
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Day four matchups:
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2:00pm EDT: Mexico (2-1) vs. Venezuela (2-1)
4:30pm EDT: Argentina (1-2) vs. United States (1-2)
7:00pm EDT: Canada (3-0) vs. Dominican Republic (0-3)
