Retamar, Platner ignite offence as Argentina win WBSC U-23 Men’s Softball World Cup bronze medal

Lucio Retamar drove in three runs and Juan Platner two, and Juan Jose Pepe had 5.1 innings of relief work that allowed four hits, one run with two strikeouts in Argentina's 10-1 defeat of Mexico on Sunday, clinching the WBSC U-23 Men's Softball World Cup bronze medal - their first ever Softball World Cup bronze and fourth overall medal.

Both teams had faced off on Day 1 of the tournament, with Mexico claiming a come-from-behind win against Argentina, 5-4. The two teams also played the final of the Americas Qualifier last year, with an Argentina 10-3 win. 

After winning the U-18 event in 2012 and 2014, and the senior World Cup in 2019, Argentina bagged their first bronze medal in history of the Softball World Cups.

How it happened

With the bases loaded in the sixth, Juan Cruz Garolini was hit by a pitch and Conrado Zanuttini knocked in two more with a single to left field to send Argentina to a 10-1 victory.

In the fifth, Argentina added two more with an RBI single by Lucio Retamar to left field to score pinch-runner Khalil Luna and Tomas Machuca, widening the gap to 7-1.

Mexico’s shortstop Junior Flores went deep in the bottom of the second to put Mexico on the scoreboard. The score was 5-1 after two complete innings.

Argentina loaded the bases in the second, with no outs. Lucio Retamar was hit by a pitch for the first run of the game. Later, Juan Platner drove in two runs with a double, while Luciano Biondi and Martin Schonfeld followed up with RBI singles to give Argentina a 5-0 edge.