|
Venezuela hangs on to hand USA Men first defeat
By Brian McCall // USA Softball // June 25, 2007
PRAGUE---Venezuela handed the USA Softball Men's National Team its first defeat at the ISF Men’s World Cup 6-5 Saturday morning. The game was the last in the round robin for the USA, which finished 7-1.
The USA fell behind 6-1 before storming back to close the gap to 6-4 with three runs on a three-run home run over the center field fence by catcher Frank DeGroat (Ringwood, N.J.) in the sixth inning. It was a team leading fifth home run of the tournament for DeGroat.
The USA added another run in the bottom of the seventh on a solo homer to right center field by shortstop Omar Moraga (Agoura Hills, Calif.) but the come back would fall short.
Sonny Perkins (St Michael's, Ariz.) took the loss for the USA after lasting only one inning. Venezuela jumped on Perkins early, scoring four runs on a pair of hits in the first. Travis Price (Santa Ana, Calif.) replaced Perkins in the second inning and pitched the remainder of the game, allowing a pair of runs on a two-run homer by Jose Mannilo in the fourth inning. Price allowed four hits and fanned eight.
Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wis.) put the USA on the board in the fourth inning with a lead off home run over the right field fence.
The USA had seven hits off the two Venezuela pitchers with Larry Escakona picking up the win after going five innings while John Garcia hurled the last two innings to pick up the save.
|
