It was another strong showing by the U.S. Women’s squad while the Jr. Team split its pair of games with the win coming in a very unusual fashion…

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US WOMEN IN TITLE GAME

The USA Women’s Team clinched the No. 1 seed and spot in the Championship Game on Sunday with a 7-0 win over Venuezela Saturday afternoon at Bill Barber Stadium in Irvine, Calif.

U.S. pitchers Sara Nevins and Jaclyn Traina combined for a five-inning run rule no-hitter and had help from the offense which scored runs in four of the five innings on 10 total hits.

The American squad jumped out to a quick lead in the bottom of the first when Valerie Arioto singled to left scoring Raven Chevanne.

Losing pitcher Maria Gomez gave up another run in the bottom of the third when Annie Aldrete came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and forced the count full before drawing a walk.

The U.S. added another pair of runs in the fourth keyed by a Kelsey Steart RBI single and closed out the game with three in the bottom of the fifth as Annie Aldrete hit a two-run home run and Janie Takeda hit an RBI single.

Nevins and Traina combined for six strikeouts and two walks in the no-hitter.

The U.S. squad will play at 4:30 pm PST to try and make it two in a row at the World Cup X title. Last summer, the host team beat Canada 5-2 in the title match and this year the only loss for the U.S. came Friday night as the Canadians won 4-1.

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US JR. WOMEN SPLIT

In the first of two games of the day for the USA Jr. National team, the young Americans didn’t have much going offensively in the afternoon match-up against Mexico, but you don’t need much when your opponent hands you five runs before you get your first hit of the game.

Entering the bottom of the 4^th inning, the U.S. team was down 3-1 and hadn’t managed a hit off Cheyanne Tarango, but then the ceiling fell in for the neighbors to the south.

Jenna Lilley walked to start off the home country’s half of the inning, Madilyn Nickles was hit by a pitch and Alyssa Palomino walked to load the bases.

Next came a fielder’s choice by Sydney Romero which plated Lilly to put the Americans on the board.

DJ Sanders was subsequently hit on the foot, a controversial play as Mexico argued that she didn’t make an effort to get out of the way. Apparently frustrated, Tarango threw a wild pitch to bring in the tying run.

Then came the wildest play of the inning, as Paige Halstead struck out swinging but the ball bounced away allowing one run to score and on the throw to first, Sanders came home as the U.S. scored the go-ahead runs on an out, a dropped third strike.

The final run of the inning came courtesy of a two-out infield single—the first hit of the game for the U.S.—by Emily Griggs who stole second and came home on a centerfield single by Lilly, her second at-bat in the extended inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sanders doubled with two outs and Halstead hit an inside pitch down the right-field line for an RBI double to make the score 7-3. Jazmin Jackson singled and Griggs loaded the bases using her speed to beat out an infield second—her second infield hit in two innings.

Nicole DeWitt then drove the first pitch from Tarango to the wall for a walk-off, bases-clearing triple which made the final score 10-3.

Johanna Grauer was the winning pitcher for the U.S.

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In the finale for the day, the US Jr. Women jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Nicole DeWitt singled home Emily Griggs, but after that it was all Japan as the team that beat the USA Women’s Team two years ago for the World Cup won convincingly 7-2 Saturday night.

The Japanese scored at least one run in each of the first five innings led by Haruna Furusawa’s hitting as she went two-for-two, and Hikari Kondo’s pitching as she gave up just one hit in two innings.

Paige Lowary pitched the first three innings for the U.S. and gave up four runs, but Kelly Barnhill came in and shut down Japan in her 1 1/3 innings of work for one of the few bright spots for the host team.

The Japanese squad will face the U.S. Women’s Team  in the World Cup X championship game.

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SUNDAY, JULY 5, SCHEDULE

• Argentina vs. Venezuela, 9 a.m.
• Mexico vs. USA Jr. Women, 11:30 a.m.
• Puerto Rico vs. Canada, 2 p.m.
• Japan vs. USA, 4:30 p.m.

Note: All times are Pacific Central Time

STANDINGS

• 1 USA (6-1-0)
• 2 Canada (5-2-0)
• 3 Japan (5-2-0)
• 4 Puerto Rico (4-3-0)
• 5 Mexico (3-4-0)
• 6 USA Jr. Women (3-4-0)
• 7 Venezuela (2-5-0)
• 8 Argentina (0-7-0)

SATURDAY, JULY 4 RESULTS

• Puerto Rico 3, Japan 2
• USA Jr. Women 10, Mexico 3
• Canada 1, Argentina, 0
• USA Women 7, Venezuela 0
• Japan 7, USA Junior Women 2

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