By Gary Anderson

Argentina celebrate a second successive Under-19 Softball World Championship win ©WBSCArgentina won a second consecutive men's Under-19 Softball World Championship with a 9-0 thrashing of New Zealand in the gold medal game in Whitehorse, Canada.

The South Americans claimed an historic win on home soil two years ago and they came to Canada determined to hold on their crown and they duly obliged with a comprehensive display against the Black Sox.

The New Zealanders were looking to secure a third world title after consecutive wins in 1985 and 1989 and looked to be the favourites going into the decider after already defeating Argentina 3-1 in the semi-final.

That saw Argentina face a play-off game with Japan to decide who would take on the New Zealanders and it was the South Americans who came through.

In the final Alan Peker scored on an error by the right fielder of New Zealand early on before Lighuen Angiolillo quickly followed with another run to get the Argentineans off to flying start.

New Zealand were unable to find any rhythm and were really up against it when Gonzalo Masmu, Matias Zapata and Teo Migliavacca added four more runs followed by a three-run homer from Masmu to seal the 9-0 win.

"[The Black Sox] are a tough team always, we have a lot of respect for them," said Argentina head coach Julio Gamarci.

"But we played how we know to play."

New Zealand had no answer to the firepower of Argentina in the final in Whitehorse ©WBSCNew Zealand had no answer to the firepower of Argentina in the final in Whitehorse ©WBSC



World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) vice-president Dale McMann added his congratulations to the two-time world champions before adding: "This special event not only highlights the depth of WBSC's sport disciplines to engage and promote young athletes, but also shows the growing global presence of our sport, especially with countries like Argentina now firmly solidifying South America, and Australia and New Zealand in Oceania competing at world-class levels."

Inaugural World Championship winners Japan took home the bronze with Australia finishing fourth ahead of the United States.

The rest of the final standings saw Mexico in sixth place followed by Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark and Singapore.

This year's tournament was the 10th edition of the event and fifth time it was staged in Canada.

Midland in the US is set to host the Championships in 2016.

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