USA to face Australia in KFC World Cup of Softball Final

Oklahoma City, Okla. – The USA Softball Women's National team clinched a spot in the title match of the KFC World Cup of Softball with an 8-1 decision over Australia today in the opening game of Sunday action at ASA Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Okla. Ashley Hansen (Chandler, Ariz.) broke the game open in the third with a grand slam to right field, making the first homerun of her National Team a big one.

“It's very exciting. I don't know if I've ever hit a grand slam before so that was really exciting. And just to give the momentum to our team and to help Jennie (Finch) out. She pitched a phenomenal game so to give her the run support she needed was just a great feeling,” said Hansen. “The veterans have just really stepped in and helped us rookies out. And we have all just been working together well the past three weeks. It's just great to see what we can do when we come out here and put it all out on the field. I give a lot of credit to the veterans for bringing us together.”

Today was the first game where the United States hit first but the result was the same, an early inning run as a Kaitlin Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) single scored Natasha Watley (Irvine, Calif.), who singled up the middle.

Jennie Finch (La Mirada, Calif.) earned the start in the circle, not allowing a runner to reach until Kylie Cronk singled to center field.

Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.) began setting the way for the grand slam when with one out, she tripled to right field. Watley reached on fielder error by third baseman Clare Warwick and would later steal second. Australia chose to load up the bases with an intentional walk to Cochran. Alissa Haber (Newark, Calif.) was hit by a pitch for an RBI to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead. The score would go to 3-0 when Andrea Duran (Selma, Calif.) was walked for an RBI. This brought up an Australian pitching change when Kaia Parnaby removed Aimee Murch from the pitching circle. With a 1-1 count, Hansen hit a homerun to right field to put the game out of reach at 7-0.

Finch was dominant in the circle through five innings, allowing only two hits with eight strikeouts.

Australia brought in pitcher Jocelyn McCallum in the fifth and again the first USA batter the Aussies faced took the ball over the fence. Haber hit a solo shot to centerfield for the needed run to end the game in five innings.

“We always joke around that we're twins,” said Hansen about Haber. “At Stanford, we have that big 1-2 punch joke so it definitely wasn't our first twinner appearance but it was nice. We we're joking about that during the game.”

The U.S. will face Australia in the Championship game for the first time in the history of the World Cup. First pitch is set for 8:00 p.m. and will be live on ESPN2.

Other medal games for the World Cup include:

12:30 p.m.
No.6 Italy vs. No.5 Netherlands – Fifth-place game
3:30 p.m.
No.4 Japan vs. No.3 Canada – Third-place game
8:00 p.m.
No. 2 Australia vs. No. 1 USA – First-place game

In other KFC World Cup action:

Japanslides byCanada in 5-4 decision

Canada took an early lead but a grand slam off the bat of Haruna Sakamoto crushed the dreams of a Championship game for Canada as Japan won 5-4.

Canada took a 2-0 lead in the first when Jen Yee homered to left center, scoring Victoria Hayward who reached on an error. Canada increased its lead to 4-1 scoring a run in the second and a run in the third. Japan would hack the lead with a run in the second off a single by Maki Tanigawa but it would be the bottom of thethird that did the damageto Canada.A lead-off Japanese walk,a sacrifice bunt, and another walk broughtrelief Canadian pitcher Danielle Lawrie(Langley, British Colombia) to the circle.Lawrie then hit Mabuchi to load the bases before Sakamoto jacked a grand slam to take a 5-4 lead.Japan stayed strong through the remaining three innings to capture the come-from-behind win.

Jennifer Caira suffered the loss for Canada allowing three runs with one strikeout. Emi Segawa was the winning pitcher for Japan working 4.0 innings, allowing four runs with four strikeouts.

No. 3 Canada (3-2) will take on No. 4 Japan (3-2) will take on for the third-place game tomorrow at 3:30 p.m./CT.

Australia advances to Championship Game with 8-0 Victory over Italy
Australia bounced back from an earlier loss to the USA to blank Italy 8-0 in five innings on Sunday in the KFC World Cup of Softball at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. In winning its third game of five games, Australia (3-2) advanced to Monday's championship game against the undefeated USA (5-0).

Pitcher Justine Smethurst collected her second win of the World Cup holding Italy (0-5) to one hit. It was a single by Sara Avani off the second baseman's glove in the fifth inning with one out. Smethurst fanned the next two batters to conclude the game and finish with 11 strikeouts. She walked only one and faced 16 batters.

Australia collected six hits off four Italy pitchers with starter Leslie Malerich taking her third loss against no wins in hurling the first two innings. Malerich allowed five runs and they all came in the first inning. The first one came on a solo homer to right-center by Kylie Cronk with Chelsea Forkin hitting a three-run triple later in the inning.

Australia scored three runs in the third inning against relief hurler Daniela Castellani with the first run scoring on a throwing error by the catcher and a two-run double by Brenda De Blaes.

With the loss No.6 seed Italy (0-5) will face No. 5 seed Netherlands (1-4) at 12:30 p.m. CT for fifth-place.

Canada advances to bronze medal game of KFC World Cup of Softball

Pitchers Jennifer Caira and Leah MacIntosh combined to hurl a three-hitter to advance Canada to the bronze medal game of the KFC World Cup of Softball following a 9-2 win over the Netherlands (1-4) on Sunday in a five-inning run rule decision at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

Canada jumped on losing pitcher Femke Van Dusschoten (0-2) early, scoring six times in the first inning on four hits. Kirsten Scheele hurled one and two-third innings in relief for the Netherlands and allowed three runs in the third innings. Van Dusschoten fanned one and walked four while Scheele walked one with no strikeouts.

Canada catcher Erin Cumpstone had a perfect evening (three-for-three) including a single in the bottom of the fifth inning to conclude the scoring. Left fielder Melanie Matthews also had a three-for-three performance including an RBI for Canada (3-2).

Caira hurled the first three innings and allowed three hits and two runs. She issued no walks and fanned seven batters to improve her record to 3-1. MacIntosh hurled the last two innings and allowed only one hit.

No. 3 Canada (3-2) will face No.4 Japan (3-2) at 3:30 p.m. (CST) in the bronze medal game.

About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men's, Women's, Junior Boys' and Junior Girls' National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of the only two women's sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.