August 16, 2014
Â
USA run rules Botswana 7-0 to move to 2-0 at ISF Women’s World Championship
Â
Haarlem, Netherlands -  It took just five innings for the USA Softball Women’s National Team to beat Botswana 7-0 and move to 2-0 at the International Softball Federation (ISF) Women’s World Championship on Saturday the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball announced today.  Seven USA hitters recorded a base hit in the abbreviated contest and Taylor Hoagland (Flower Mound, Texas) and Destinee Martinez (Corona, Calif.) each had multiple hits. Martinez added two RBI and a run to her stat line.
Click here to view the box score
“We did exactly what we needed to do today,†said USA Head Coach Ken Eriksen. “We got on top early and our pitchers were dominant. Now we have about a 24 hour break before we play again so we can take some time to relax just a bit and come back tomorrow ready to go.â€
Three USA pitchers combined for a perfect game not allowing a single Botswana base runner in the game. Jaclyn Traina (Naples, Fla.) earned the start and the win for Team USA. Traina went three complete innings striking out seven batters. In the fourth Jolene Henderson (Elk Grove, Calif.) entered to pitch and kept the streak alive. In the top of the fifth, Sara Nevins (Pinellas Park, Fla.) entered to close out the game. The lefty struck out all three batters she faced securing the perfect game for the American pitching staff.
The USA scoring started early when Raven Chavanne (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) scored from third on a Hallie Wilson (Santa Ana, Calif.) ground ball to shortstop in the bottom of the first. In the second Team USA added three runs to their lead on a two-run single from Martinez and an RBI single by Chavanne.
Both teams were held scoreless in the third but the USA scoring picked back up in the fourth when Martinez doubled to start the at-bat and scored on an illegal pitch three batters later. Haylie McCleney (Morris, Ala.) scored later in the inning on a sac-fly by Samantha Fischer ( Simi Valley, Calif.) to put Team USA up 6-0.
Entering the bottom of the fifth, the USA needed just one run to secure the run-rule victory. Batting second in the inning, Hoagland tripled to left field to represent the closeout run. In the next at-bat Jessica Plaza connected on a walk-off line drive to left field scoring Hoagland for the seventh USA run of the game.
The USA batters finished with nine hits, two for extra bases, and six RBI in the World Championship contest.
The win moves Team USA to 2-0 in the tournament. The Americans will next face Chinese Taipei at 4:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. CDT) on Sunday. Live streaming and live stats are available via www.USASoftball.com throughout the ISF World Championship. Log on and follow Team USA as they seek a tenth World Championship Gold.
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
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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------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
