FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2013
Click here for coverage throughout the ISF Men’s Fastpitch World Championship
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – The USA Men’s Fastpitch National Team put on a hitting clinic against Indonesia on Tuesday at the International Softball Federation (ISF) World Championship. Team USA scored 14 runs on 12 hits and Travis Price (Orange, Calif.) was just as impressive in the circle as the right hander struck out eight batters in four innings on his way to a no hitter the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of American and USA Softball announced today.
Â
“We played just like we should today. We hit the ball well and capitalized when we had runners in scoring position,†said USA Head Coach Pete Turner. “Travis threw a great game and kept the hitters guessing all day.â€
Â
Price opened the game with three consecutive strikeouts in the top of the first inning and the USA bats matched his efforts. Adam LaLonde (Ashland, Ky.) started the bottom half of the inning with a single which was followed by two walks to load the bases for left fielder Josh Johnson (Brooklyn, Wis.). With a 1-2 count, Johnson tagged a ball to right field clearing the bases with a triple.
Â
Two batters later, Dave Lohman (Lindenhurst, NY) singled to score Johnson giving Team USA a 4-0 advantage that would carry over to the second inning.
Â
Price picked up where he had left off in the first inning as he retired Indonesia’s four, five and six-hole batters in the second. Two ground ball assists from shortstop Todd Schultz (Williamston, Mich.) sandwiched a Price strikeout in the Indonesian at-bat.
Â
The Americans struggled in the bottom of the second going three up, three down themselves but Price again made quick work of the batters in the top of the third. Still holding their 4-0 lead entering the bottom half of the inning, Team USA opened the gates as they batted around the lineup and scored 10 runs on nine hits and two errors. Schultz and LaLonde highlighted the inning with back-to-back homeruns, each over the left-center field fence. Lohman and catcher Trevor Kelly (Marshall, Mich.) also added two RBI respectively in the at-bat.
Â
When the inning come to a close, the USA had extended their lead to 14-0 and needed just three outs to complete the run-rule. Facing Indonesia’s second, third and fourth batters in the top of the fourth, Price delivered with three straight outs to secure the win.
Â
“This was a great team win for us today,†said Price. “It always makes things easier on a pitcher when you’re team is able to jump up early and our hitters deserve a lot of credit for doing that. We took a 4-0 lead early in the game and I was able to settle into a flow.â€
Â
The USA Men are now 2-3 in the pool play portion of the tournament. They will next face Venezuela (4-1) on Wednesday at 12:00 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.
Â
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/.
Â
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
