USA Central undefeated through two
By John Denny
Staff Reporter

An East runner finds herself in a pickle as Ashleigh Bonsquet awaits the throw. Below, East catcher Brittany Thorne tags out a runner. Photos by RUSLANA LAMBERT

USA Central’s Sara Davis — a pinch runner for Lexi Czarnecki, who led off the second inning with a single — scored the game’s lone run on an error by second baseman Brittney Walter. Angela Miller moved Davis to second on a one-out single down the third base line and Kayla Noble plated Czarnecki on a sharply hit grounder to second that skipped underneath Walter’s glove.

Both teams had opportunities to add more runs in the game, but great pitching and defense squelched any rally. USA Central stranded three runners in scoring position, compared to USA East’s two.

“We haven’t been swinging the bat as well as we usually do,” USA Central Manager Andy Bozman said. “But our defense and our pitching has been our strength.”

USA Central split its pitching duties between the winning starting pitcher Olivia Findley (1-0) and Sam DeFord, four innings to three respectively. They combined for five strikeouts, allowed three walks and only two hits, while also keeping their pitch counts down by forcing 10 of USA East’s 21 outs on two pitches or less.

Their defense backed them up, working four three-up, three-down innings, and committed no errors. USA Central eliminated a late game rally following a lead-off single by Arielle Cooper by completing a 4-3-1 double play at third base to end the sixth inning.

USA East’s starting pitcher, Aubrey Latham earned the loss in a complete game effort while allowing only one run on two walks and four hits, and striking out a game-high eight batters.

The loss dropped USA East to 1-2 in World Series play. They’ll have Wednesday night off and return to play Latin America (Maunabo, Puerto Rico) on Thursday, Aug. 9, on Connie Mack Field at 5:30 p.m. USA Central will play Latin America (Maunabo, Puerto Rico) on Wednesday on Ebbets Field at 8 p.m. and then District III (Laurel, Del.) the next night at the same place and time.