U.S. moves to 17-1; Stunned in 1-0 no-hit loss to Virginia Tech

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. ---- It was an up and down night for the USA Softball Women’s National team blowing through the DePaul Blue Demons 23-0 in game one, before succumbing to a no-hit 1-0 loss in game two against Virginia Tech. Suffering its first pre-Olympic tour lost since May 3, 1996 when the U.S. lost to California Select in Los Angeles, Calif., the loss breaks a 185-game pre-Olympic tour win streak. During that time, Team USA has outscored opponents 1,475-24.

“My hat goes off to Angela Tincher tonight,” said head coach Mike Candrea. “She pitched a great ball game. I told our team what she was capable of and told them to be ready to go. But she came out firing and really kept us off our game.”

The last shutout against Team USA came on August 4, 2005 at the Sendai Series in a 1-0 loss to Japan.

Starting pitcher Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.) was saddled with the loss totaling four innings pitched allowing one earned run on four hits.

Tincher was near perfect allowing just one walk with ten strikeouts.

Virginia Tech’s eventual game-winning run came in the second inning with a lead-off double from Kelsey Hoffman. Anna Zitt entered to pinch run and moved quickly to third on an illegal pitch from Finch. Looking to leave Zitt stranded, back-to-back strikeouts soon occurred but Caroline Stolle blooped an RBI single to left field plating Zitt for lead.

Team USA allowed a tour high six hits while Hokie Beth Walker led all batters with a 2-for-2 outing.

Game 1 – USA 23 DePaul 0

The U.S. blasted past the DePaul Blue Demons in game one with a 23-0 whopping victory in six innings. Earning their 17^th victory of the KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour, the U.S. offensive onslaught was led by Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.) who was 4-for-5 with six RBI and Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.) who was also 4-for-5 with three RBI.

DePaul assistant coach and Team USA starting pitcher Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) completed the first three innings allowing one hit with eight strikeouts. Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, Calif.) tallied the final three innings giving up two hits and recording two strikeouts.

The U.S. exploded in the first inning for 13 runs on 12 hits against Blue Demon starting pitcher Lindsey Dean. Batting for the cycle within the first five batters, the U.S. poured on the runs batting through the line-up twice for the 13-0 lead. The run barrage was led by the efforts of Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.) who had back-to-back home runs and collected five of her game high six RBI in the first inning. The inning was also highlighted by a two RBI home run from designated player Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.) and a two RBI double to left field from Mendoza.

Silenced in the second inning, the U.S. added three runs in the third inning thanks to a couple of passed balls from DePaul catcher Jackie Tarulli-Fisher.

While putting up four runs in the fourth inning, the U.S. saw its 20^th run cross home plate off a towering 300 foot solo home run from Tairia Flowers (Tucson, Ariz.).

The final three runs of the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning on five hits from the Red, White and Blue including a two-RBI homerun from Lowe.

On Friday at 11 a.m./CST the USA Softball National team 15-member roster that will compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games will be announced. Following the announcement the team will continue the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour with a stop in Las Cruces, N.M., on April 6.

Berg is leading the team batting .500 while Mendoza holds a team-high 29 RBI, 31 hits and 24 runs scored. Osterman and Fernandez are leading the staff at 4-0 while Osterman holds a team-high 64 strikeouts.

Complete coverage of all stops can be found on http://www.usasoftball.com/