June 27, 2025
By Steve Smith
Special to Triple Crown Sports
WESTMINSTER – Take some timely pitching, some timely hitting and some timely defense.
Add them, and you have the main ingredients for a 6-4 win by the United States over Mexico in the 16U bracket of the Triple Crown International Challenge at Christopher Complex June 27.
The pitching piece was courtesy of Evannie Flores, In her two innings of work, she allowed three runs and just one hit, a three-run home run by Arianna Munoz. Flores also struck out five. Flores, who will graduate from high school in 2027, also plays for the Rogue Fastpitch Club in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“When they went down, they came back,” Flores said. “It was really fun. Both teams played really well. We fed off their energy.”
Center fielder D’Yami Meredith, who has committed to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, made a game-saving catch of a fly ball off Munoz’ bat for the last out of the four-inning game. The timely hitting came from two sources. Aubrey Joiner, who doubled earlier in the game, hit a sacrifice fly that gave the U.S. a needed insurance run in the fourth inning.
Palmer Pasby, who plays for Enid, Okla., High School, cracked a three-run home run in the second inning, part of a four-run outburst that put the United States on top for good.
“It was so electric,” Pasby said. “Mexico has a lot of energy. I’m proud of us. It was a great win. Mexico? They are loud, bring a lot of energy. That let us feed off their energy. We had some timely hits. It was a great game.”
Flores said she was able to block out a lot of the noise from the Mexican team dugout.
“Especially with all the horns,” she said. “My curveball was working. It’s normal. My changeup was pretty good.”
U.S. coach Kevin LaRousa is a travel coach. His home base is in North Carolina. It’s his second year as a head coach and his third year overall. His 16U squad for the challenge includes players from Florida and Hawaii.
“It’s fun to watch these ladies get out of their normal element of travel ball, meet girls they’ve never played with before,” LaRousa said. “It’s fun getting these girls together for this event. What I would like to see is other travel ball coaches understand how important this type of game is for the world of softball.”
The U.S. squad had just one practice before the challenge began. But that didn’t seem to factor into team trust.
“Trusting the defense, obviously, Trusting our outfield that they will make the plays,” Pasby said. “It’s pretty simple.”
Malina Viruet, who plays for the LTG Carda 16U travel team in Elk Grove, Calif., finished up the pitching duties for the U.S. team. In her two innings, she struck out two and allowed three hits. Lucy Perry, whose travel team is Firecrackers Wallace in Lemoore, Calif., added a second-inning base hit and scored a run.Maleah Humble, representing Firecrackers Humble in Brooklyn, had an RBI base hit in the fourth inning.
Annabelle Zamarri, whose club team is ZT Blaze Premier out of Los Angeles, and Elysse Diaz (Explosion-Kim, Orange County, Calif.) had fourth-inning doubles for the squad from Mexico. Jocelyn Alatorre, who plays for the BSC Bengals 16U team in Orange County) added a third-inning single.
“They’re coming out, having fun,” La Rousa said. “Sometimes, travel ball can get very long. It’s kind of a grind. It prepares them for the next level. But when you have an event like this, if they have an opportunity to play in a tournament like this, let them do it. It’s a blast.”
