Argentina rallies to beat USA on first night of Junior Men’s World Championship
By Dan Chalk
Sunday night’s opening game at the WBSC Junior Men’s World Championship couldn’t have started any better for pitcher Derek Martin and Team USA.
An early five-run lead against two-time defending champion Argentina seemed to put the Americans on the way to a signature win at Emerson Park’s Currie Stadium.
But USA’s five errors helped the Argentines to rally in the late innings and pull out a 6-5 win on a hot, muggy night.
The 19-and-under fastpitch softball world championship, held every two years, is being played in the United States for the first time in 31 years, and for the first time ever in Midland.
Martin, who is from Stevens, Pa., had a two-hit shutout and a 5-0 lead through three innings. But Argentina scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth and tied the game with four runs in the fifth, an inning that included two infield singles, two throwing errors, and two run-scoring wild pitches by Martin.
Argentina then took the lead with an unearned run off of reliever Zane Chason in the sixth.
“(In the) later innings, we just didn’t make plays,” said Martin, who made one of the errors in the fifth. “ … We just didn’t execute on the field like we needed to.”
USA manager Tim Lyon agreed. “We didn’t play like we can tonight, obviously,” Lyon said. “We usually play pretty good defense, and tonight (we didn’t). It’s tough to say we were the better team (in a loss), but I think we were.”
Indeed, the first inning seemed to portend a good night for the Americans. Martin escaped a jam unscathed in the top of the inning after Argentina put two runners aboard with one out.
Then the first seven USA hitters reached base in the bottom of the first. Bryce DuCharme and Martin singled and Peyton Hall walked to load the bases. Isaac Hormann singled home two runs, Brogan Potter drove home a run with a fielder’s choice, and Hormann came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
USA loaded the bases again, still with no outs, but Argentina starter Julian Fernandez struck out Jon Broadbear and got Martin Valencia to ground into a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.?Ducharme hit another leadoff single in the second inning, stole second and eventually scored on a two-out error to put USA up 5-0.
Argentina manager Andrés Gamarci, whose brother, Julio, managed the team to the 2014 world championship, said Sunday’s comeback win was a matter of weathering the storm.
“USA got a pretty good start over us,” Gamarci said. “My starter (Fernandez) was very tight, a little bit nervous, so they took advantage of that. We were struggling at the first, but we tried to make adjustments during the game and keep going, going, going. We were lucky to score one more (run than USA) at the end.”
Pablo Isa singled for Argentina in the fourth and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Cristian Gallegos to make it 5-1. A fielding error by Potter, the first baseman, made the run unearned.
And in the fifth, things quickly unraveled for USA. Throwing errors by Valencia, the third baseman, and Martin on back-to-back infield singles led to the first run. A wild pitch brought home another run, and Teo Migliavacca singled home a third run. Isa tripled and pinch-runner Juan Ojeda scored the tying run on another wild pitch.
Chason replaced Martin one batter later and got out of the inning. But Valencia’s two-base throwing error in the sixth set up Gian Scialacomo’s go-ahead single that made it 6-5.
“We thought we had a good opportunity to win,” Lyon said. “We thought if we won, it would put us in nice shape for the playoffs (on Thursday). So now we’ve just got to battle back and probably (win the rest of our pool play games).”
Gamarci noted that good hitting is his team’s calling card. Isa had three hits while Scialacomo and Migliavacca had two each.
“We have the belief that teams can only win tournaments by hitting (well),” he said. “So that’s what we do. We work a lot on our hitting. That’s what we try to be our best in.”
Gamarci also has a notable motto for his team.
“We tell them, ‘You’ve got to have a clean mind, dirty hands, and warm hearts every game,’” he said with a smile.
DuCharme and Justin Perez each had three hits for USA, and Martin added two hits.
Martin gave up five runs, four earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
“He started strong,” Lyon noted of Martin. “I think the humidity might have gotten to him a little bit. You get that adrenaline going, (but) all of a sudden that wears off. I think he got a little tired.”
Chason, taking the loss, allowed one unearned run on two hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Fernandez threw a complete game in the victory, allowing five runs, three earned, on nine hits with eight strikeouts.
The schedule for the tournament’s opening day on Sunday was altered due to rain. As a result, USA’s game vs. Botswana, scheduled for Sunday morning, will be played today at 10:30 a.m. at Currie Stadium.
“It’s a big game for us,” Lyon said. “We’ve got to come out and play like we can, a little better than we did tonight, and get in that win column so that we can get rolling the rest of the week.”
Argentina, meanwhile, plays Denmark today at noon and Australia at 5 p.m., both on Field 2 at Emerson Park.
In other games on Sunday, Japan beat Israel 8-0, Botswana beat Denmark 8-1, New Zealand beat Canada 3-1, and Mexico beat Israel 7-0.
Pool play continues through Wednesday, with USA, Argentina, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark and Botswana in Pool A; and New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Canada, South Africa and Israel in Pool B.
Venezuela not able to participate
Venezuela was also scheduled to be in Pool A, but its players could not obtain visas to travel to the United States due to the unstable political situation in Venezuela, ASA/USA Softball Executive Director Craig Cress explained.
“They were just unable to get their visas and that’s the only reason they’re not here,” Cress said. “The last couple weeks, we’ve been trying to help them and work with our USOC connection at the State Department, and we gave them a couple solutions, but it seemed like they hit a roadblock on those. It’s unfortunate for the (Venezuelan) athletes not to be here. But sometimes politics get in the way of sports. And we have to understand that and accept it and move on.”
Opening ceremonies
During the tournament’s opening ceremonies, which were held at Currie Stadium Sunday evening just before the Argentina/USA game, Cress said he urged the participants to seize the moment and develop friendships with players from other countries.
“As I told the players in the opening ceremonies, (they should) embrace and enjoy the atmosphere and embrace the situation they’re in and take it all in — not just the competition, but take the time to get lifelong friends out of this event,” Cress said, recalling his experience at the 1996 ISF Men’s World Championship in Midland. “I still (have friends that I made) in 1996, when I was here at the Men’s World Championship as an umpire.”
Ticket sales
A weekly pass for the tournament is $25 for youths (ages 12-18) and $100 for adults. Those under 12 receive free admission.
Adult single-day tickets are $20 during pool play and $25 when playoff rounds begin on Thursday. Youth single-day tickets are $5.
For an evening session, starting at 5 p.m. each day throughout the tournament, tickets are $10 for adults and $3 for youths.
Also, any youths wearing their local baseball or softball jersey to the park will receive free admission to the games any time of the day.
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