By: Stephen K. Lee – Assistant Director of Media Relations, University of Tennessee
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Raven Chavanne had a three-run homer, Lauren Gibson had an RBI single and the USA Softball Women’s National Team stormed past Canada, 8-1, on Sunday to win the gold medal in the Pan American Games Qualifier on Sunday.
The win gave Team USA its second gold medal of the summer and it also marked back-to-back golds for the Tennessee trio of Chavanne, Gibson and Karen Weekly, who joined the team as an assistant coach for these last two tournaments in San Juan. After taking silver in the World Cup of Softball VIII (July 11-14) and bronze in the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship (July 16-22), the Stars and Stripes captured gold in the Mayor’s Cup earlier this month. The win seals Team USA’s berth in the 2015 Pan American Games.
Chavanne enjoyed her finest offensive performance of the week, going 2-for-2 with the three-run blast, two runs and one walk. Gibson was 1-for-2 with one RBI and one walk. Valerie Arioto and Taylor Hoagland also homered in the victory.
Sara Nevins earned the win for Team USA after striking out three and allowing one earned run over 4.1 frames.
Sara Plourde took the loss for Canada after issuing three earned runs over just one inning of work. Jocelyn Cater allowed five earned runs in 3.2 relief frames.
Gibson gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Michelle Moultrie drew a leadoff walk and stole second base. Chavanne followed with a walk on four pitches to give Gibson two on with no outs. The Pasadena, Md., native delivered with an RBI single to plate Moultrie.
In the top of the second inning, Lauren Chamberlain drew a leadoff walk and Hoagland followed with a two-run homer to push the U.S. lead to 3-0. Four batters later, with two runners in scoring position, Chavanne hammered a three-run blast to plate Moultrie, Taylor Thom and herself and give Team USA a commanding 6-0 lead. With Chavanne’s long ball, the U.S. never looked back.
Chavanne led off the top of the fifth with a single and Gibson laid down a sac bunt to move her to second base. Two batters later, Arioto knocked a two-run bomb to extend the Americans’ lead to 8-0.
Canada scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth when Jennifer Yee hit a one -out RBI single to score Caitlin Lever.
