CARY, N.C. – The first day of the 2025 Women’s National Team Development Program opened with the Stripes narrowly defeating the Stars, 1-0, at Coleman Field on Wednesday, October 15. The contest featured solid pitching and timely defensive played by both teams, as there were just a combined nine hits and seven different pitchers had scoreless outings.
AS IT HAPPENED
- An RBI triple by Denae Benites proved to be the difference in the tightly contested game. She drove in Mia Kruspe from first after she reached on a one-out single to left field.
NOTABLES
- Maggie Paulovich managed to spark two inning-ending double plays in the first and second innings. In the first inning, she fielded a fly ball and threw to first to double up the runner. In the second, she caught a fly ball and made the throw to home to keep the runner at third from scoring.
- Prior to the lone run that was scored, five different players managed to find themselves in scoring position. Including Benites, five different players had extra-base hits across the first five innings but were unable to cross home plate.
- Benites led all players with two hits, while seven other players tallied one hit in the contest.
- Both pitching staffs put together impressive outings. For the Stars, Elise Berger, and Jamie Mackay each threw two scoreless innings, and Paloma Benach threw a hitless inning. For the Stripes, Meggie Meidlinger, Demi Chaney, Jordan Andreas, and Lauren Schwab combined for the shutout victory.
ON DECK
- The 2025 WNTDP continues on Thursday, October 16, when the Stars and Stripes play Canada at 2 and 5 p.m., respectively, at Coleman Field. All games will be streamed on USABaseball.TV and live scoring will be available on GameChanger.
ABOUT NTDP SCORING
- USA Baseball utilizes a modified scoring system for its development programs to achieve load management and mitigate potential injuries due to overuse for its athletes. Pitchers are subject to a maximum pitch count of 25 per inning during game play. In the event an inning is rolled because a pitcher has reached their maximum pitch count, runners on base may be contributed to the game score.
