From Steve Embree, USA Softball
Midland, Mich. – In their first event as a team, the 2014 USA Softball Junior Men’s Fastpitch National Team took the championship of a tournament in Midland, Mich. this weekend. Using the event as a tune-up for next month’s International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Men’s World Championships, Team USA went 3-2 in the event with a 14-7 win over Reese’s A’s in the finals.
USA 14, Reese’s A’s 7
A superb effort by Junior Centeno (Salem, Utah) carried Team USA to a 14-7 win in five innings over Reese A’s on Sunday at Currie stadium in Midland, Mich. Junior accomplished one of the rarest feats in softball when he hit for the cycle going 4-4 in the game. He singled in the first inning, homered in the third inning, tripled in the fourth inning, and doubled in the fifth inning.
The USA Junior Men’s bats came to life in the fourth inning as they scored eight runs by way of an RBI single by Blaine Milhelm (Easton Rapids, Mich., a three-run home run by Bryce DuCharme (Hudson, Wis.), an RBI double by Jimbo Pernetti (Ceres, Calif.), a two-run home run by Tyler Bouley (Champlin, Minn.), and a solo home run by Ryan Barnes (Lehi, Utah).
The teams traded runs for most of the contest, leading to four lead changes in the game. Phillip Zimmerman (New Holland, Pa.) recorded the win for Team USA allowing seven runs over five innings. Zimmerman struck out four, walked three and surrendered 10 hits.
Wright took the loss for Reese A’s. He allowed 14 runs in five innings and struck out five.
Team USA jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first after back-to-back singles from DuCharme and Centeno was followed by a two-run RBI double from Pernetti. Team USA then tacked on more runs when Pernetti scored on an RBI single by Tyler Stoffel (North Mankato, Minn.).
The USA Junior Men added two additional runs in the fifth after Pernetti’s double got things going, scoring Centeno. That was followed up by a Bouley single, plating Pernetti.
Following the tournament championship, the USA Softball Junior Men will play two exhibition games in Midland on Monday and Tuesday night before breaking for the remainder of the month. The Team will come together again on July 1 as they begin a five-city tour along the west coast and then travel to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada for the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship. Please visit www.USASoftball.com throughout the year for updates on the USA Softball Junior Men’s National Team.