{"id":1780,"date":"2007-06-22T15:01:28","date_gmt":"2007-06-22T23:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1780"},"modified":"2007-06-22T15:04:01","modified_gmt":"2007-06-22T23:04:01","slug":"usa-world-cup-games-6-7-wins-over-prague-and-cz-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1780","title":{"rendered":"USA World Cup – Games 6 & 7 – Wins over Prague and CZ Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"

From USA Softball via<\/strong> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

USA Softball Men’s National Team pick up two more wins at ISF Men’s World Cup, Now 7-0<\/strong><\/p>\n

USA blanks Prague Stars for seventh consecutive win<\/p>\n

PRAGUE, CZ—The USA Softball Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Team coasted to
\na 10-0 five inningrun rule victory over the Prague Stars (1-4)
\non Friday morning to remainundefeated at 7-0 in the ISF Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nWorld Cup. Three-home runs in just oneinning helped to propel
\nto Red, White and Blue to their fourth victory via therun-rule.<\/p>\n

The USA pounded two Prague pitchers for 12hits including three
\nhomers in a six-run third inning. Ales Jetmar was thelosing pitcher
\nand worked two innings, allowing six runs and eight hits.Right-hander
\nPetr Bednar replaced Jetmar after the USA hitconsecutive homers
\n(DeLarwell and DeGroat) in the third inning andfinished the game,
\nallowing four runs and four hits.<\/p>\n

Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.) opened the third with a solo
\nblast toleft field and catcher Frank DeGroat (Ringwood, N.J.)
\nfollowed with a solo homer to centerfield before Adam LaLonde
\n(Cheboygan, Mich.) sent a blast over the center field fencelater
\nin the inning for the USA’s first grand slam of the WorldCup.<\/p>\n

It was the second home run of the game for DeLarwelle who helped
\nputthree runs on the board in the first inning with a solo shot.
\nDeGroat increasedhis home run total to four with his solo home
\nrun while LaLonde broke into thehome run club with his first.
\n The three homers in the third inning increasedthe overall USAtotal
\nto 14 in just seven games.<\/p>\n

Although it wasn’t the first time LaLonde has hit a grand slam
\nin hiscareer, it was the first grand slam for him in his six-year
\ncareer as a memberof the USA National Team. LaLonde had a pair
\nof singles in two earlier at-bats tofinish off a perfect day.
\nDeLarwelle also had a perfect day offensively going3-for-3 with
\na single and two home runs.<\/p>\n

Cody Thomson (Salt Lake City, Utah) hurled the first three innings
\nfor the USA to pick uphis second win in the circle. During his
\nstint in the circle he allowed onlyone hit, one walk and fanned
\ntwo batters. Left-hander B.J. Hunhoff (Harrisburg, S.D.came in
\nfrom the bull pen in the fourth inning to finish off the game.
\nIn twoinnings of work he did not allow a hit and struck out two.<\/p>\n

The U.S. must nowturn its sights towards a showdown with undefeated
\nVenezuela later in the day. Thewinner will secure the top seed
\ngoing into the page playoffs on Saturday. Thelast time these
\ntwo teams met up was in October of 2006 at the Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s PanAmerican
\nChampionships in Hermosillo, Mexico where Venezueladismantled
\nthe USA8-0, and allowed only one hit. The U.S.went on to finish
\nfourth while Venezuelafinished as the runner-up.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

USA holds off Czech Republic toremain undefeated in ISF Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\nWorld Cup<\/p>\n

HAVLICKUV, BROD—Holding off a last inning rally by the Czech
\nRepublic(1-4), the USA Softball Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Team won its sixth
\nconsecutivegame on Thursday, 6-4, to remain undefeated in the
\nISF Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s World Cup. TheU.S.improved to 6-0 in pool play which
\nconcludes on Friday with a double-header.<\/p>\n

For the first time in the tournament the U.S. found itself trailing
\nina game when the Czech\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom
\nof thesecond inning but the Red, White and Blue came storming
\nback in the top of thefourth inning after a couple is costly
\ndefensive miscues.<\/p>\n

Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood N.J.) reached on a fielding errorby
\nthe shortstop to lead off the inning and Mo Kandouse (Patterson,
\nN.J.) wasinserted to pinch-run. A trot would be the extent of
\nrunning Kandouse wouldhave to do as Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.)
\nblasted his second home run of the World Cup toleft field to
\ngive the U.S.a 2-1 advantage.<\/p>\n

The Czech Republic came back to tiethe game in the bottom of
\nthe fourth inning. T. Benda led off the inning with asingle and
\nscored on a single by V. Svoboda coupled with an error by U.S.
\nright fielder Chris Miljavac (St. Joseph, Mo.<\/p>\n

The USA regained thelead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning
\non a solo homer by shortstop OmarMoraga (Agoura Hills, Calif.)
\nand an RBI single by Devine but thepesky Czech\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s added a run
\nof their own in the bottom of the sixth to cutthe lead in half.<\/p>\n

Two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning, which proved
\nto bethe difference in the game, increased the U.S. lead to 6-3.
\nMoragaled off the inning with a double to center field and scored
\non an RBI single byChris DeLarwelle (Appleton Wis.). With one
\nout in theinning, DeLarwelle stole second, advanced to third
\non an error by the shortstopand scored on a wild pitch.<\/p>\n

With their home town fans behind them, the Czech\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mounted a
\ncomeback in the bottom of the seventh inning. L. Prochazka led
\noff with a singleand advanced into scoring position on a wild
\npitch. A walk to M. Cermakprompted Head Coach Peter Turner to
\nturn to his bull pen to put a stop to therally.<\/p>\n

Sonny Perkins (St. Michael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Ariz.came in to relieve starter
\nTravis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.) with thewinning run coming to
\nthe plate. D. Mertl greeted Perkins with a single toright field
\nthat scored Prochazka but that would be all Perkins and the U.S.defense
\nwould allow. A heads-up play by USAfirst baseman Nate Devine
\n(Merced, Calif.) turned a routine out into a double play when
\nhetook the throw from second baseman Blake Miller (Albany, Ga.and
\nlaced it to third to pick-off the runner. Perkins wrapped up
\nhis first savewith a strikeout to end the game.<\/p>\n

Price picked up his third win of the World Cup, hurling 6 1\/3
\ninningswith eight strikeouts. The USAand the Czech Republiceach
\nhad eight hits apiece with Moraga and Devinleading the way with
\nthree hits apiece for the USA.<\/p>\n

The USA willcomplete the round robin portion of the World Cup
\non Friday with games againstthe Prague Stars and Venezuela.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From USA Softball via USA Softball Men’s National Team pick up two more wins at ISF Men’s World Cup, Now 7-0 USA blanks Prague Stars for seventh consecutive win PRAGUE, CZ—The USA Softball Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Team coasted to a 10-0 five inningrun rule victory over the Prague Stars (1-4) on Friday morning to remainundefeated at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}