International & NPF

North America highlights first day at WBSC Jr. World Championship

Two of the three North American teams playing in the XII Jr. Women’s Softball World Championship in Clearwater highlighted Monday’s action.

Mexico and Canada locked into a pitcher’s duel early. Grand Canyon’s Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage was perfect for the Canadians through six innings while Arizona State’s Alyssa Loza kept the Mexicans in the game with five scoreless frames.

“I didn’t strike a lot of people out so I couldn’t have done it with my team,” said Aguilar-Beaucage. “I was nervous (before the game) but I was prepared. Yes, it’s worlds but once I was on the field it was just a game.”

Beaucage finished with five strikeouts in six innings and gave up two hits, one unearned run before being lifted with a 1-0 lead and bases loaded in the seventh for Auburn commit, Kara Bilodeau.

Bilodeau struggled to find the strike zone with the first batter and the tying run scored on a wild pitch. After that, she was locked in and got the next three batters in order.

“I think through the first six innings we stuck to our plan and everything went well but the girls battled,” said head coach Keith Mackintosh. “Kara came in and did a great job.”

Rebecca Jones and Grace Messmer, the youngest players on the Canadian roster, came up big with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Jones hit a shot to center that was a little too hot for the diving Madelyn Ruffin to handle as the ball came out of her glove when she hit the ground, Jones ended up on third. Messmer followed with a single down third base line for the walk-off, 2-1 win.

“I was definitely looking for my pitch because I was up in the count,” said Messmer. “I took a deep breath every time I took a step in and I put a good swing on my pitch. It’s my first Worlds and it’s just so exciting.”

 Team USA dominates

Bubba Nickles (UCLA) hit two homers, Holly Azevedo (UCLA) and Natalie Lugo (Florida) combined for a no-hitter in Team USA’s 13-0 (four innings) win over Turkey in the first game of the tournament.

Kathryn Sandercock (James Madison) and Mariah Lopez (Oklahoma) combined for Team USA’s first perfect game of the tournament in a 14-0 victory against Guatemala. Baylee Klinger (Texas A&M) was 2-for-2 with four runs batted in and Jessie Harper (Arizona) was 3-for-3 with three RBI.

“Great job on my pitching staff. They are doing a really good job of getting ahead of hitters and the defense is ready when the ball is put in play,” said Team USA head coach Laura Berg. “We’re getting good pitches, we’re taking good swings on those pitches and we are executing. Base running is phenomenal and I love it and we are taking care of business.”

Other scores from Day 1

 Australia 12 Peru 5

Israel 0 Japan 22

Guatemala 1 Chinese Taipei 2

Philippines 10 Italy 3

Korea 0 Great Britain 1

Netherlands 3 Brazil 4

The Dominican Republic 12 Argentina 9

South Africa 16 Turkey 3

Ireland 1 China 11

Israel 0 Bahamas 10

The Czech Republic 14 India 2

Chinese Taipei 13 Philippines 0

Mexico 1 Canada 2

Peru 0 Japan 7

New Zealand 6 Puerto Rico 8

Great Britain 1 China 7

Netherlands 0 Australia 3

Argentina 0 Czech Republic 6

To see all other information about the tournament visit: http://www.wbsc.org/tournaments/2017-jr-womens-softball-world-championship/home/

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