The USA, which meets Japan in a late game Tuesday evening, fell behind when Denmark scored on an RBI single by Rasmus Sorensen in the first inning, a solo homer by Jesper Panduro in the second inning and a passed ball in the third inning against USA starter Cody Thomson (Salt Lake City, Utah). But the USA cut the margin to a lone run with a pair of solo homers by Omar Moraga (Agoura Hills, Calif.) and Frank DeGroat, Jr., (Ringwood, N.J.) off losing pitcher Kim Hansen in the fourth inning. Hansen was rocked for four runs and seven hits in four and one-third innings.
DeGroat’s homer was his second of the competition and landed in the trees over the fence in left center. Moraga’s homer was his first of the competition and went over the right field fence.

The USA then took command of the game for good, scoring six runs on five hits in the fifth inning. Daryn Miller (Creve Coeur, Ill.) had two RBI, Moraga, Matt Palazzo (Des Moines, Iowa) and Chris DeLarwelle (Appleton, Wisc.) all had one RBI for the USA in the inning. Miller scored the final USA run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by catcher Adam LaLonde (Cheboygan, Mich.), who played an outstanding game on defense either throwing out or picking off four Danish base runners. Omar Moraga was 3-for-4 with two RBI and is hitting .667 for the tournament.

USA starter Thomson hurled 2 2/3 innings with B.J. Hunhoff (Harrisburg, SD), the youngest player on the USA team, hurling 1 1/3 innings and Travis Price (Santa Ana, CA) getting his second win in as many games hurling 3 2/3 innings. The USA collected 12 hits while Denmark had eight.

The USA National Men’s Team is moves to 2-0 in the ISF World Cup in Prague, CZ, and is set to face Japan, who finished fifth at the last ISF Men’s World Championship, at 8:00 p.m. (1:00 pm CST) on Tuesday, June 19. Denmark dropped to 1-1.

For additional information or interviews with players on the USA Softball Men’s National Team contact Bill Plummer at 202 352 2629