{"id":29702,"date":"2016-07-17T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T18:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=29702"},"modified":"2016-07-17T12:25:19","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T19:25:19","slug":"team-usa-among-13-teams-playing-in-junior-world-championship-at-emerson-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=29702","title":{"rendered":"Team USA among 13 teams playing in Junior World Championship at Midland MI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click to view original story at the Midland Daily News.<\/figcaption><\/figure>From the Midland Daily News:<\/a><\/p>\n

WBSC Jr. Men’s World Championship Runs July 24 through July 30, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

United States national team coach Tim Lyon isn\u2019t sure how his squad of 19-and-under men\u2019s fastpitch softball players will stack up against the best in the world next week in Midland. With Team USA\u2019s blend of athleticism and experience, however, Lyon admitted that he is \u201ccautiously excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some really nice players, and we do have some returning players (from the 2014 U.S. team),\u201d said Lyon, whose team will open play at the WBSC Junior Men\u2019s World Championship against Botswana at Currie Stadium on July 24 at 9:30 a.m. \u201cBut until you get on the field, you don\u2019t know how they\u2019ll perform. I do think this is the best team we\u2019ve put on the field in 30 years.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S.-Botswana matchup will be the first game of the tournament, and the Americans will play their second game of pool play later the same day against two-time defending world champion Argentina at 8 p.m., also at Currie Stadium, following the 6:30 p.m. opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

The tournament will continue through July 30, with all games being held at Emerson Park.<\/p>\n

Team USA is in Pool A along with Argentina, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Botswana, and Venezuela, while Pool B will consist of New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, and Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cArgentina is the two-time defending world champion, and so they\u2019re going to be good. We play them on opening night, so that\u2019ll be an interesting draw,\u201d said Lyon.<\/span> \u201cAustralia, Japan, Canada, and New Zealand have pretty much made the playoffs (in the world tournament) for the past 30 years. Those four teams have been in the playoffs for all but a handful of those (world tournaments).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Czechs are greatly improved, Mexico is greatly improved, and Venezuela always has good athletes,\u201d he added. \u201c(Junior men\u2019s softball) is so different from men\u2019s. With men, you know from cycle to cycle who\u2019ll be good, because (the rosters) don\u2019t really change much. With these kids, the turnover (from one year to the next) is huge. The fact that I have five returners is almost unheard of, and some of these teams don\u2019t have any returners (from 2014).\u201d<\/p>\n

Those five returners to whom Lyon refers are pitcher Zane Chason from Alma, Ga.; outfielders Bryce DuCharme from Hudson, Wis., Steven Nessler from Mankato, Minn., and Justin Perez from Northeast, Pa.; and catcher Peyton Hall from Prairie du Chien, Wis., who was named a Wisconsin high school baseball player of the year recently. Chason and Derek Martin from Stevens, Pa., are Team USA\u2019s top pitchers.
\n\u201cThose are my two main pitchers, and they\u2019re good,\u201d Lyon noted.<\/p>\n

Lyon said that, in assembling his national team roster, the first step was identifying young men who would take the game of fastpitch softball seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing we looked for was somebody whose dad, grandfather, or brother has played softball, because then we don\u2019t have to convince them that softball isn\u2019t just a sport that their girlfriends play,\u201d Lyon said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and our coaching staff are like a college staff that has to go out and recruit. We have to convince them to come to camps.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Lyon said that just identifying potential national team players is one of the most critical parts of his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to identify about 80 kids (who have a shot at making the national team) so that we end up with 17 (of the best after the final cuts),\u201d he said, noting that his staff uses social media, a vast network of friends and coaches, and good old word-of-mouth to learn about players. \u201c … That\u2019s what takes up a lot of our time \u2014 just finding players.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Joining the five returners on Team USA\u2019s roster are infielder Logan Amend from Vassar, Mich.; outfielder Sergio Balderrama from El Paso, Texas; outfielder Kelly Fagan-Beam from Bakersfield, Calif.; shortstop Jonathan Broadbear from Bloomington, Ill.; first-baseman Michael Douds from Erie, Pa.; centerfielder Isaac Hormann from Young America, Minn.; infielder Lane Kurtz from Ephrata, Pa.; pitcher Craig Lewis from Winston, Mo.; infielder Jeff Lewis from Amboy, Minn.; catcher Devin Martin from Stevens, Pa.; utility player Matthew Martin from Myerstown, Pa.; outfielder Chase Stratton from Clearfield, Utah; catcher Brady Parker from Midland, Texas; first-baseman Brogan Potter from Prairie du Chien, Wis.; third-baseman Martin Valencia from Perris, Calif.; and pitcher Taylor Weldin from Bakersfield, Calif.<\/p>\n

Of those 22 players, 17 will comprise the active roster, while the remaining five will be alternates. Those final roster spots had not yet been determined as of this writing.<\/p>\n

Lyon characterized his team as \u201cvery athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of real good athletes, and we\u2019ll play some good defense and hope to get some timely hitting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s so much different than a men\u2019s program, because you\u2019re dealing with teenaged boys. You just don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to show up (and play to their potential) sometimes. But we\u2019re going to go with the traditional play good defense, get good pitching, and hope for timely hitting (approach).\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes right down to it, though, Lyon admitted that in softball good pitching typically trumps good hitting.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue reading at the Midland Daily News.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Midland Daily News: WBSC Jr. Men’s World Championship Runs July 24 through July 30, 2016 United States national team coach Tim Lyon isn\u2019t sure how his squad of 19-and-under men\u2019s fastpitch softball players will stack up against the best in the world next week in Midland. With Team USA\u2019s blend of athleticism and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,28,23,61,82,27],"tags":[437,418,417,421],"class_list":{"0":"post-29702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-asa","8":"category-featured","9":"category-tournaments","10":"category-usa-softball","11":"category-wbsc","12":"category-youth","13":"tag-asausa","14":"tag-midland2016","15":"tag-usajrmen2016","16":"tag-wbsc2016","17":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29702"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29708,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29702\/revisions\/29708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}