FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 15, 2015

Argentina hands Men's National Team 3-1 loss at Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada  — An early lead could not give the USA Softball Men's National Team an edge in a 3-1 loss to Argentina at the 2015 Pan American Games.  Despite striking early with a run in the top of the first inning, the U.S. struggled to get the timely hits against Argentina and were held to just three hits through the remainder of the game.  With the loss, the U.S. moves to 1-3 at the Pan American Games and have one remaining game in the preliminary rounds that will determine a playoff berth.

 

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"Our guys stepped up that last inning, we just couldn't follow up with some hits," said Head Coach Denny Bruckert (Gillespie, Ill.).  "We started out the game really good by getting a run in that first inning.  We had one bad inning with a passed ball that hurt us.  The guys have to pick their heads up and come out tomorrow and make a statement."

 

The U.S. struck early in the top of the first as Chris Miljavac (Easton, Mo.) led off with a hard hit ground ball to centerfield.  Two batters later, Matt Palazzo (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) smoked a ball down the right field line for a standup triple to plate Miljavac.  With the run scored, the U.S. took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first.  Argentina would respond with two base runners in their at-bat with a single and a walk, but the U.S. would get out of the inning with no damage done with a ground out to Nick Mullins (Toms River, N.J.) at shortstop.

 

The Red, White and Blue would get another base runner in the top of the second inning when Nate Devine (Sonora, Calif.) was issued a one out walk.  Argentina would get out of the threat, however, as pinch runner Marcus Tan (Union City, Calif.) was caught stealing second base on a strikeout.  A leadoff single from Argentina was the sole base runner in the bottom half of the inning as U.S. starter Tony Mancha (Las Cruces, N.M.) got the next two batters to pop up before recording his second strikeout of the game.

 

The U.S. held the lead until the bottom of the third inning when Argentina plated two runs to take the lead.  The lead change started with a hit batter and an intentional walk to put two runners on with two outs.  On the next pitch, the runner from second would come around to score on a passed ball and the second run of the inning would be plated on a hard infield single.  After three complete innings, Argentina took the 2-1 lead.

 

The U.S. would get an opportunity to tie the game up in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of leadoff runners as Palazzo was issued a leadoff walk.  Josh Johnson (El Paso, Texas) then reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, but a failed bunt attempt resulted in a double play to get Palazzo out at second base.  A strikeout to the next batter would keep the U.S. from mounting a rally.

 

That score would hold until the bottom of the sixth inning when Argentina hit a solo home run off the new U.S. pitcher Gerald Muizelaar (Grand Forks, N.D.) to extend their lead to 3-1.  Down to their final at-bat, the U.S. looked to get things going offensively with a pair of singles from Freddy Carmona (San Antonio, Texas) and Pat Sagdal (Richland, Wash.), but a series of strikeouts kept the U.S. from extending the game.

 

"We need to take the intensity that we had in the seventh inning and get it from the start," said Palazzo.  "We had guys with really good at-bats that last inning and the last few days we've had better at-bats and drawn more walks.  We need to take that into our game tomorrow.  This team believes. We know we can do it. We can beat anybody here, we just need to put all the pieces together and win some games."

 

Mancha was charged with the loss, issuing five hits and two runs through five innings of work while striking out six batters.  Muizelaar entered in relief in the bottom of the sixth, giving up three hits and one run while fanning three.

 

Team USA will close out the preliminary rounds of the Pan American Games tomorrow in a win-or-go-home 7 p.m. EDT game against Mexico.  Live stats will be available throughout the Pan American Games and fans at home can follow along with recaps and more at ASAUSASoftball.com.

 

About ASA/USA Softball

Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 74 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million.  ASA/USA is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles as well as claimed eight World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please visithttp://www.asausasoftball.com/.

 

 

Codi Warren

 

Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications

Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball

Office 405.425.3431 | Cell 405. 420. 2817