Midland, Mich. – In their first event as a team, the 2014 USA Softball Junior Men’s Fastpitch National Team took the championship of a tournament in Midland, Mich. this weekend. Using the event as a tune-up for next month’s International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Men’s World Championships, Team USA went 3-2 in the event with a 14-7 win over Reese’s A’s in the finals.
Â
USA 14, Reese’s A’s 7
Â
A superb effort by Junior Centeno (Salem, Utah)Â carried Team USA to a 14-7 win in five innings over Reese A's on Sunday at Currie stadium in Midland, Mich. Junior accomplished one of the rarest feats in softball when he hit for the cycle going 4-4 in the game. He singled in the first inning, homered in the third inning, tripled in the fourth inning, and doubled in the fifth inning.
The USA Junior Men’s bats came to life in the fourth inning as they scored eight runs by way of an RBI single by Blaine Milhelm (Easton Rapids, Mich., a three-run home run by Bryce DuCharme (Hudson, Wis.), an RBI double by Jimbo Pernetti (Ceres, Calif.), a two-run home run by Tyler Bouley (Champlin, Minn.), and a solo home run by Ryan Barnes (Lehi, Utah).
The teams traded runs for most of the contest, leading to four lead changes in the game. Phillip Zimmerman (New Holland, Pa.)Â recorded the win for Team USA allowing seven runs over five innings. Zimmerman struck out four, walked three and surrendered 10 hits.
Wright took the loss for Reese A's. He allowed 14 runs in five innings and struck out five.
Team USA jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first after back-to-back singles from DuCharme and Centeno was followed by a two-run RBI double from Pernetti. Team USA then tacked on more runs when Pernetti scored on an RBI single by Tyler Stoffel (North Mankato, Minn.).
Â
The USA Junior Men added two additional runs in the fifth after Pernetti’s double got things going, scoring Centeno. That was followed up by a Bouley single, plating Pernetti.
Following the tournament championship, the USA Softball Junior Men will play two exhibition games in Midland on Monday and Tuesday night before breaking for the remainder of the month. The Team will come together again on July 1as they begin a five-city tour along the west coast and then travel to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada for the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship. Please visit www.USASoftball.com throughout the year for updates on the USA Softball Junior Men’s National Team.
About ISF
Headquartered in Plant City, Florida (USA), the ISF is a member of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for the sport  which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and SportAccord (formerly the General Association of International Sports Federations). Softball (women’s fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 127 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.
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 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.
About USA SoftballÂ
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 the 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 including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com. Â
Â
Â
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Â
Steven Embree | ASA/USA Softball
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications
2801 NE 50th |Â Oklahoma City, OK 73111
Work:Â 405-425-3422 | Cell: 405-207-1004
E-mail: sembree@softball.org | Web: www.usasoftball.com
