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(July 26, 2002)
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USA opens 2002 World Championship with
2-0 win over Italy
SASKATOON , SK, CANADA (July 26, 2002)
The United States opened its bid for a fifth straight Women's World
Championship by defeating Italy 2-0 Friday afternoon at Bob Van Impe
Stadium.
Team USA scored all of its runs with
two outs in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Nina Lindenberg (
Anaheim Hills, Calif. ), Lovie Jung ( Fountain Valley, Calif. ) and
Laura Berg ( Santa Fe Springs, Calif. ) hit consecutive singles to load
the bases. After a force-out at the plate, Natasha Watley ( Irvine,
Calif. ) singled up the middle to score both Jung and Berg for the
game's only runs.
"I just wanted to get the ball
through the infield and score at least one run," Watley said.
"Fortunately, I got the pitch I wanted and was able to drive
it."
Watley finished the game with two hits,
while Berg went 3-for-3. As a team, the United States rapped out eight
hits.
Lisa Fernandez ( Long Beach, Calif. )
picked up the complete-game win, as she scattered five hits, issued one
walk and struck out six.
Leslie Malerich, who also pitched a
complete game, took the loss for Italy.
Italy seemed on the verge of taking a
lead in the top of the third inning, but Berg orchestrated a double-play
from center field that stopped the rally. With one out and runners on
first and second, Marta Gambello sent a deep shot to center that forced
Berg into a full-out dive to make the catch. After making the catch,
Berg was able to get up, spin and make a throw to third for the out on
the Team Italy runner trying to tag from second.
"Obviously, I'm very pleased to
open this championship with a win over a very good Italian team,"
said USA head coach Mike Candrea. "I knew that Italy was going to
come right at us and I thought Lisa did a great job of battling
throughout the game."
The United States continues round-robin
play in the X Women's World Championship with a 6:30 p.m. game against
the Czech Republic Saturday.
For complete coverage of USA Softball
including complete box scores, play-by-play and team statistics visit
www.usasoftball.com.
[Source: USA Softball]
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