USA Baseball Wins 12U Gold
USA Baseball won the 12U WBSC World Cup for a third consecutive time (Photo courtesy World Baseball Softball Confederation).
The United States stayed perfect in 12U world championship games, as USA Baseball won the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s U-12 Baseball World Cup on Sunday, defeating host Taiwan 7-2 in the championship game in Tainan.
Team USA added the 2017 title to the 2015 and 2013 titles. This year’s club went 8-1 in the tournament, led by World Cup MVP Kai Caranto (Santa Clarita, Calif.), who hit a three-run homer in the third inning of the championship game. Raffaele Velazquez (Long Beach) followed with a solo homer for a 4-0 lead as the U.S. never trailed.
Caranto, the team’s shortstop, went 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs in the title game and batted .391 overall with two homers and 16 RBIs in the tournament, while also stealing nine bases in as many attempts. He also had one save and tossed 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.
Cacher Josh Atomanczyk (Franklin, Texas) joined Caranto and Velazquez on the all-tournament team, hitting a team-high five home runs in just 21 at-bats. Five of his eight hits were homers as the U.S. out-homered opponents 18-9. Atomanczyk also went 2-0, 1.24 on the mound with team-bests in strikeouts (11) and innings pitched (9.2). Velazquez went 9-for-22 (.409 and walked four times as well with only one strikeout.
Outfielder Ben Reiland (Irvine, Calif.) was left off the all-tournament team despite hitting 18-for-28 (.643) with a team-high 16 runs scored. He also had nine steals in 11 chances and tied for the team lead with four outings on the mound.
The gold-medal victory avenged the Americans’ only loss of the tournament, a 16-2 loss in the first game of the “super round,” in which Taiwan rapped out 11 hits, including six home runs.
Brandon Olivera (Hialeah, Fla.) allowed two runs on two hits while striking out two and earning the win in four innings of work Caranto closed out the game, throwing two scoreless frames after entering in the fifth. It was Olivera’s fourth outing on the mound overall but his first start of the tournament.
Mexico beat Japan 1-0 to win the bronze medal behind a 75-pitch complete-game shutout by lefthander Juan Hernandez.
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