USA Junior Men split games at ISF World Championship
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WHITEHORSE,Yukon, Canada  -   The USA Softball Junior Men’s National Team split games on Saturday at the International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Men’s World Championship in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of American and USA Softball announced today. The American’s fell to New Zealand 4-1 in their first game of the day but bounced back to defeat Czech Republic 8-4 in the nightcap. Phillip Zimmerman (New Holland, Pa.) picked up both the win as well as the loss in the circle for Team USA.
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Team USA took New Zealand deep into the ball game behind the pitching of Phillip Zimmerman (New Holland, Pa.). The Pennsylvania native held opposing batters scoreless while allowing just one hit through the first four innings. However, the American bats also struggled aside from a double  in the second and single in the fourth from catcher Tyler Bouley (Champlin, Minn.).
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The run-less score held until New Zealand managed two runs off of three hits in the top of the fifth inning. USA went three up, three down in the bottom half of the inning and New Zealand added two more runs in the top of the sixth to take a 4-0 lead. The score held to the bottom of the seventh and the USA Junior Men found themselves with one final at-bat to get back into the game. Bouley singled to start the half inning and two batters later Blaine Milheim (Easton Rapids, Mich.) singled to score the USA’s first run. With a runner on base and just one out, New Zealand’s Ethan Johnston struck out the next two USA batters securing the 4-1 win for his country.
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Zimmerman finished the game having given four runs on five hits while striking out six New Zealand batters.
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“Our guys fought hard today,†said USA Head Coach Tim Lyon. “We were right there in the game the whole time. Phillip pitched a great game, we just have to do a better job of getting the bats going earlier in the game.†Â
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The USA Junior Men and Czech Republic exchanged leads seven times on Saturday, but Team USA ended up on top with an 8-4 win. USA finally managed to grab the lead for good after a strong fourth inning when a passed ball scored Tristan Sensenig (Denver, Pa.) and then Bouley doubled to score Milheim and Steven Nessler (North Mankato, Minn.) making it USA 7, Czech Republic 4.
Tyler Stoffel (New Mankato, Minn.) also racked up two RBIs when he homered in the third inning and in the circle, Zimmerman struck out 10 Czech Republic batters and allowed just three earned runs.
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Team USA will return to action at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championships on Sunday, July 13 when they face Canada at 7:30 p.m. (PST). Visit www.USAsoftball.com to follow live stats and see photos from all of USA’s games at the ISF World Championship.
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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.
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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 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
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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
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