FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2013
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AUCKLAND, New Zealand – The USA Softball Men’s National Team opened play at the International Softball Federation (ISF) World Championship on Friday when they faced defending World Champion Australia the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today. The Americans struggled to get much going offensively as costly errors in the field spotted the Aussies the runs they needed for the win.
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“We just never quite settled into the ballgame,†said USA assistant coach Avon Meacham. “Australia is a really good team and they deserve credit for the win but we did a lot of things to help them out along the way. With that said, I still feel good about the way our team is playing. We just have to put this one behind us and look to get on a run as we continue through pool play.â€
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Things looked promising in the start for Team USA when Adam LaLonde (Ashland, Ky.) led off the game with a base hit but Australian pitcher Adam Folkard followed it with two of his 12 strikeouts on the night to hold the Americans scoreless in the first inning.
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Travis Price (Orange, Calif.) got the start in the circle for Team USA and held the Aussies scoreless for one and two-thirds innings but with two down in the second, Australia rattled off three quick runs to take the lead. Price surrender runs four and five in the next two innings and with two outs in the fourth, Josh Johnson (Brooklyn, Wis.) entered the circle in relief. Johnson walked his first batter but followed with a strikeout to end the inning.
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Trailing late in the game, Team USA couldn’t get anything going offensively as Australia defense retired their final 12 batters in a row. The Aussies added a sixth and final run in the fifth inning and went away with a 6-0 opening-game win.Â
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The USA Men will look to bounce back when they face Samoa in their second pool play game on Saturday at 12 PM local time. Pool play will continue through March 7 when the top four teams from each pool will be seeded into a bracket scheduled for March 8-10. You can follow all of the USA Men’s National Team action at www.USASoftball.com.
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About ASA The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 200,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.  About USA Softball USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to 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 six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Embree | ASA/USA Softball
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications 2801 NE 50th | Oklahoma City, OK 73111 Work: 405-425-3422 | Cell: 405-207-1004 E-mail: sembree@softball.org | Web: www.usasoftball.com
