July2015

Raven Chavanne blasts Women's National Team to 9-2 (six inning) win

July 19, 2015

Toronto, ON

 

Raven Chavanne blasts Women's National Team to 9-2 (six inning) win over Puerto Rico at Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada  — A five-run, sixth inning helped propel the USA Softball Women's National Team (WNT) to a 9-2 (six inning) run-rule over Puerto Rico to open play at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.  Team USA's offense combined for nine hits through the six-inning contest, including a walk off, three-run blast by Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif.).

 

Click here for live stats, box scores and more from the Pan American Games

 

"We got a lot of the 'Pan Am rookie' cobwebs out today," said Head Coach Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla.).  "For a lot of these girls, this is their first Pan American Game of their career so they were able to get that nervousness out through the first few innings.  Our pitching did great tonight, Jess Moore kept them at zero for as long as possible until we were able to score.  The way these athletes from Puerto Rico can swing a bat, that early lead we had was not safe so Raven's home run allowed them to put a cap on the bottle there at the end.  Tomorrow, we've got to come out swinging.  Just get better each day, that's what we're trying to do."

 

Puerto Rico would get some early base runners in the first and second innings with a pair of hits but the U.S. defense and starter Jessica Moore (Sutter, Calif.) kept them off the board with some great defensive plays.  With a runner in the top of the first inning following a one-out single, a double-play by Kellie Fox (San Diego, Calif.) and Lauren Gibson (Pasadena, Md.) got the U.S. out of the first inning unscathed.  Puerto Rico would get another base runner in the top of the second inning with a leadoff single but the runner would get thrown out on an attempted steal by the strong arm of Amanda Chidester (Allen Park, Mich.) behind the plate. 

 

Team USA would score the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning as Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) was issued a leadoff walk and advanced to second base during the next at-bat.  A walk to Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) would put two on with one out for Chidester, who hit a hard ground ball to the center fielder to plate Arioto and give the Red, White and Blue an early 1-0 lead.

 

The U.S. would tack on another three runs in the bottom of the third inning with the help of a leadoff walk to Haylie McCleney (Morris, Ala.) and a string of hits by the heart of the U.S. lineup.  McCleney would come around to score on a line drive single from Gibson and Arioto followed suit with a deep fly ball for a standup triple to plate Gibson.  Sierra Romero (Murrieta, Calif.) singled to center field to score the third run of the inning, giving Team USA an early 4-0 lead.

 

Puerto Rico would cut the lead in the top of the fourth inning.  A hard hit ball to the gap between left and center field would allowed the base runner, who reached on a walk, to score from first to make the score 4-1.  Another run would score for the Puerto Ricans in the top of the fifth inning to cut the U.S. lead in half on back-to-back hits.  This prompted a pitching change for the U.S. as Jaclyn Traina (Naples, Fla.) entered in relief for Moore.  Traina and the U.S. defense would get out of the jam with no further damage with a ground out and a fly out.

 

The score would hold at a 4-2 U.S. lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Eagles exploded for five runs off four hits  Romero started the rally, connecting for a single to start Team USA's at-bat.  A single from Moultrie put two on for Chidester, who laid down a sac-bunt to put the runners in scoring position.  When a walk to Fox loaded the bases, McCleney collected two RBI with a line drive single to centerfield as Romero and Moultrie crossed the plate.  With two on and one out, Chavanne smoked the ball over the center field fence on a 2-0 count to end the game in walk-off fashion with Team USA coming away with the 9-2 (six inning) run-rule win. 

 

"I was just trying to see a pitch up in the zone," said Chavanne.  "Ocasio is normally a down-ball kind of pitcher and since she was down 2-0 in the count, I was just looking for that hitter's count pitch.  It was a good team win.  The first game of any tournament is always kind of the tone setter, so it was a good win but we still have some things to work on as we continue to play."

 

Moore picked up the win for the U.S., going four and one-third innings with six strikeouts and two runs allowed.  Traina finished in relief, pitching the final one and two-third innings with two strikeouts and no hits allowed.  Offensively, Romero had a 2-for-3 outing with one RBI while Arioto and Chidester also collected an RBI apiece.  McCleney finished the evening 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBI while Chavanne picked up three RBI.

 

Up next for the U.S. is a 2 p.m. EDT game against Brazil.  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

OUR SPONSORS

TRENDING NOW
@alsfastball
FRIENDS OF AL'S FASTBALL
AU Sable AFP Fastpitch Fastpitch West International Softball Congress Men’s Fastpitch SA North American Fastpitch Association Ontario Amateur Softball Association

Ontario Masters Fastball sports betting site betway Shooters Fastpitch League Softball Canada Softball New Zealand WBSC