(HR for Chris Delarwelle, Silver Medal Win for Travis Price)
Prague, CZ—The USA Softball Men’s National Team turned things around in the bronze medal game at the ISF Men’s World Cup by defeating Venezuela 5-2 to earn a spot in the championship game against Japan. A solid pitching performance by USA starter Travis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.) coupled with some timely hitting put the U.S. back on track for the title.
After a scoreless first inning, Venezuela took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Coronel was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a single by Flores and scored on a groundout by Guererro.
The U.S. responded in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead. Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.) led off the inning with a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1. With one out, Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.) got the offense going again with a single to right field. After a strikeout by Blake Miller (Albany, Ga.), Devine moved into scoring position when Gregg Cascaes (Apple Valley, Minn.) was hit by a pitch but it was an error by the Venezuelan defense that proved to be the difference. It looked like the runners would be stranded on a fielder’s choice by Lucas Goring (St. Paul, Minn.) but the second baseman muffed the throw from the shortstop and allowed Devine to score the go ahead run.
Venezuela tied the game in the top of the third with help from Price who hit three batters in the inning. A lead off double by Linares put the tying run on base and three hit batters in the inning allowed him to come around and scored without another ball being put into play.
In the bottom of the fifth inning the U.S. was the beneficiary of a batter being hit by a pitch. Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.) led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. The next two U.S. batters were unable to move him into scoring position after being struck out so Miljavac put himself in scoring position by stealing second base. After a walk to Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood, N.J.), Devine collected his second hit of the game to score Miljavac and give the Red, White and Blue a 3-2 advantage.
The U.S. managed to hold Venezuela scoreless in the top of the sixth inning and tack on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two runners on base, Miljavac laced a triple to left field that drove in the final two runs of the game to secure a 5-2 U.S. victory.
Price picked up the win in the circle after allowing two runs on five hits and being responsible for five batters being hit by a pitch.
With the win the U.S. advances to face Japan in the championship finals to decide the inaugural champion of the ISF Men’s World Cup. The two teams have split their previous two match-ups at the World Cup with the U.S. winning in pool play and Japan winning in the opening game of the playoffs.