U-19 Women’s National Team Drops Achille Challenge Opener to Japan, 3-0

EVRY-COURCOURONNES, France – In its first international competition of the summer, the U-19 Women’s National Team (U-19 WNT) dropped the opener of the 2019 Achille Challenge to Japan, 3-0. The U-19 WNT couldn’t capitalize on early scoring chances while Japan took advantage of early timely hitting taking the first of two meetings between the two teams in France.

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“It was a great challenge today for our women to be able to figure out how to play at this level,” said U-19 WNT Head Coach Heather Tarr (Redmond, Wash.). “We’re excited to be able to build off of it and see how good we can get beyond this day. We get another chance to play Japan and that’s great for us this weekend and we are excited to continue to grow together.”

The Red, White and Blue had their chance at striking first. Charla Echols (Newnan, Ga.) roped a single to center moving Jayda Coleman (The Colony, Texas) over to third while Echols took second on the throw to home. A strikeout followed by a ground out ended the USA threat in the top of the first.

Japan loaded the bases on three singles before striking with a two-RBI shot to center taking the early lead.

U-19 WNT starter Kathryn Sandercock (McLean, Va.) settled in the after the first forcing up zeros through the next three frames. Sandercock picked up a big strikeout closing out the second where a pair of Japan runners were stranded in scoring position. Despite picking up the loss she struck out four Japan hitters in five innings of work.

Japan’s timely hitting in the fifth extended its lead to 3-0 thanks to a two-out RBI triple scoring its lead off double. The USA offense didn’t go away easy putting runners aboard in the fourth and sixth before Japan forced up another blank spot.

Reliever Kelley Lynch (Newnan, Ga.) kept Japan off the board in the sixth picking up a pair of strikeouts. ​

The U-19 WNT had one more shot at a rally in the seventh thanks to a two-out infield single by Coleman. A strikeout to pinch-hitter Julia Cottrill (Stillwater,Okla.) the next at bat capped out the team’s first look at an international opponent.

“I think both Kat and Kelley put together a good game,” said Tarr. “They threw well enough to win and offensively we just need to continue to grow, improve, evolve and find a way to execute when we have runners in scoring position.”

The U-19 WNT will get one more chance at Japan on Saturday, June 22 at 7 p.m. local time (12 p.m. CT). Prior to the rematch, Team USA takes on the host country France at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. CT).