WHITEHORSE, Yukon, Canada – A rainy day saw the USA give defending World Champions Canada a scare, while Botswana and Denmark battled in a one-run thriller.
Canada, Dominican Republic, Japan, and New Zealand all remain undefeated and atop of the two pools after three days of competition at the WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship.
Pool B
No. 2 Japan (3-0) v Turkey (0-3)
24-0 (3 innings)
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Play-by-Play
Japan remains undefeated and atop Pool B with New Zealand after pounding Turkey 24-0 in three innings. Turkey is still looking for their first win as they make their debut on the world stage.
Right from the beginning, this was a one-sided game. Japan scored 10 runs in the first inning, followed by 14 more in the second on a combined 18 hits to cruise to their third win in as many games. Pitcher Hikaru Matsuda led all hitters in the game with eight RBIs.
Win: Hikaru Matsuda
Loss: Cansin Etgu
Next up:
Japan – 10 July at 5:30pm against New Zealand
Turkey – 10 July at 12:30pm against Botswana
Pool A
No. 11 Dominican Republic (3-0) v India (0-3)
15-0 (3 innings)
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Dominican Republic has not faced any real competition yet as they won to their third straight lopsided game, this time to India.
In the top of the first inning, Dominican Republic scored what would become the winning run as Sergio Lahoz singled to score Elias Valerio.
In the second, the bats came alive for the Dominican Republic as they scored six runs on six hits, including a three-run shot by Juan Ramirez and a solo home-run by Pablo Figuereo for a 7-0 lead.
India had a quick burst of offensive in the bottom of the third. Sehgal Harsimrat Singh hit a two-out single to right field before a strike-out ended the inning.
Ramirez tripled to drive in Joel de Mota before a RBI ground-out by Valerio scored Francis Medina in the fourth inning to extend Dominican Republic’s lead by 9. They continued to hammer India adding six more runs in the third, before the game ended early with a final score of 15-0.
With the win, Dominican Republic remains undefeated and atop Pool A with Canada.
Win: Luiyi Mena
Loss: Mahanand Kishan
Next up:
Dominican Republic – 10 July at 7:00pm against Australia
India – 10 July at 11:30am against USA
Pool A
No. 3 Argentina (2-1) v Hong Kong (1-2)
8-0 (5 innings)
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Argentina and Hong Kong entered the game today fresh off wins’ yesterday. But Argentina walked away the victor in an 8-0 shut-out game.
Win: Roman Godoy
Loss: Ling Yuk Sing
Save: Martin Gonzalez
Next up:
Argentina – 10 July at 2:00pm against South Africa
Hong Kong – 10 July at 4:30pm against Canada
Pool B
No. 13 Denmark (2-1) v No. 19 Botswana (1-2)
1-0
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Play-by-Play
The last time Botswana and Denmark faced each other was in 2009 at the Men’s World Championship in Saskatoon, Canada, with Denmark coming out on top.
Both teams had numerous opportunities to score as Botswana stranded a total of five runners to Denmark’s four. But the game was kept scoreless through six innings before Denmark scored the game’s only run.
Botswana’s Brian Dekoker was the first base runner of the game, before being tagged out at second on a fly-out to center to end the inning.
Denmark fumbled an opportunity in the second as Daniel Julenon was hit by a pitch to reach base with no outs. But bad base running caught pinch-runner Duncan Milne trying to advance to third on a fielder’s choice up the middle and Anders Joergensen was caught leaving the base too early.
Botswana tried again to piece something together as Eric Simwanza started the bottom of the inning with a single up the middle. Later, with two-outs, Romeo Tshelametse batted Simwanza to third. But a ground-out to second ended the inning.
In the fourth, Denmark’s Anton Brown singled down the left-field line and reached third through a steal and wild pitch. But he was stranded when Julenon grounded out.
After Denmark stranded a runner at first in the fifth, Botswana threatened to score the game’s first run as Obusitswe Lekgothu doubled and stole third with two-outs. Denmark then intentionally walked Dekoker for runners on the corners. But Kabo Matlho hit to the second baseman Marc Nilhoj, who then threw out Dekoker for the third out.
In the top of the sixth, Denmark finally struck. Martin Simonsen hit to the pitcher and stole second to reach scoring position with only one out. Brown then drove him in with a RBI hit to left-field as slobby throws by Botswana allowed Brown to wind up on third. Julenon was then intentionally walked. Jorgensen ended the inning on a strike-out, but not before Denmark scored the game’s only run.
Win: Kim Hansen
Loss: Kagiso Johannes Mogale
Next up:
Botswana – 10 July at 12:30pm against Turkey
Denmark – 10 July at 10:00am against Venezuela
Pool A
No. 5 Australia (2-1) v No. 14 South Africa (0-3)
7-0
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Australia’s Harris Peters and Jarryd Farrell teamed up to strike out 12 in the 7-0 no-hitter against South Africa. As both teams played suspenseful games yesterday, today’s match-up was all Australia.
The Steelers had the bats going early, scoring Ryan Sinclair, Nick Shailes, Lewis Weldon, and Andrew Kirkpatrick on three hits and heads-up base running in the first.
In the second inning, Shailes scored James Todhunter for his second homer of the day, giving Australia a 6-0 lead.
Australia added their final run of the game in the fourth when Mark Harris doubled down the left-field line and later stole third. Todhunter then hit to right-field to drive in Harris before their bats went cold. Luckily for the Aussies, it was enough as they recorded their second straight win with the 7-0 shut-out.
Win: Harrison Peters
Loss: Tidima Barnat Kekana
Next up:
Australia – 10 July at 7:00pm against Dominican Republic
South Africa – 10 July at 2:00pm against Argentina
Pool B
No. 7 Venezuela (2-1) v No. 8 Czech Republic (1-2)
11-5 (5 innings)
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Play-by-Play
With rain falling throughout the day, a sloppy affair occurred between Venezuela and Czech Republic with both making unforced errors.
Czech Republic struck first as David Mertl led off with a walk and advanced to second on an illegal pitch. Petr Vácha then reached base on a throwing error, allowing Mertl to score for the early 1-0 lead.
Venezuela got on the scoreboard in the second, bringing the entire line-up to the plate to score five. Rafael Flores, Luiger Pinto, John Zambrano, Jorge Lima, and Herwins Querales all scored through three hits and four defensive errors.
In the top of the third, Czech Republic tied the game up at 5-5, hitting through the whole batting order themselves. It all started with a monster home-run by Marek Maly. Patrik Kolkus then doubled to left-center before Václav Svoboda singled to score Kolkus. Three batters later, Tomas Klein hits the ball off Erick Urbaneja’s glove to drive in Svoboda. Shortstop Yeider Chirino then bobbled Tomas Petr’s hit to load the bases. Another hit to left-field allowed Patrik Kopecny to score before Klein was gunned down for the third out.
Flores would start the bottom of the third with a double off the left-field fence before being driven in by Lima. Zambrano then singled to right-center to score Lima and Querales hit a sac-fly to left-field to score Carlos Carreno. On the base hit by Ivan Paez, the left-fielder Kopecny threw a bullet to home, requiring Zambrano to put the brakes on halfway down the base path. But an overthrow into the outfield from the catcher, allowed Zambrano, Linares, and Paez to all score bringing the game to 11-5.
In the bottom of the fifth, Carreno hit a solo shot to end the game early 12-5.
Win: Carlos Ucero
Loss: Marek Maly
Next up:
Venezuela – 10 July at 10:00am against Denmark
Czech Republic – 10 July at 3:00pm against Great Britain
Pool B
No. 1 New Zealand (3-0) v No. 10 Great Britain (0-3)
16-0 (5 innings)
Box Score
Play-by-Play
Great Britain could not find the strike zone throughout the game giving up a total of 17 walks. New Zealand went on to win comfortably 16-0 in five innings.
New Zealand experienced a potentially devastating loss in the first inning. Ben Enoka led the game off with a walk, but was badly injured stealing second and had to be replaced by Wayne Laula. Four straight walks later scored Laula. Kallan Compain then hit in Nathan Nukunuku for 2-0 lead.
In the top of the second, Campbell Enoka reached on a throwing error by shortstop Regan O’Neill. Enoka was able to reach third after a steal and a sacrifice by Laulu. Nukunuku then walked before getting into a run-down giving Enoka time to score before getting tagged out to end the half inning. In the bottom of the inning, James Darby doubled to left-center to lead off for Great Britain. With one out, Neil Davies grounded out to advanced Darby to third. But a strike-out ended the inning, with a 3-0 New Zealand advantage.
New Zealand added to their lead as three walks with one-out loaded the bases in the third. Isaac Fletcher then hit a sac-fly to score Cole Evans for a 4-0 game.
Great Britain fell apart in the fourth. Darby threw four straight walks to score Luala. But after 13 walks in the game, Darby was replaced with Kyle Linton. With the bases still loaded, Kallan Compain hit a grand slam to clear the bases. A hard hit up the middle for Enoka advanced Joshua Harbrow to third. But a bad throw by the outfield allowed Enoka to advance to second before Laula walks to load bases once again. But Linton fanned Karl Gollan to get out of the jam with New Zealand up 9-0.
In the sixth inning, New Zealand ended the game early scoring seven. Cole Evans and Harbrow both hit two-run homers, followed by a solo shot by Joel Evans.
With the win, New Zealand remains undefeated atop Pool B with Japan.
Win: Joshua Pettett
Loss: James Darby
Save: Campbell Gibson
Next up:
New Zealand – 10 July at 5:30pm against Japan
Great Britain – 10 July at 3:00pm against Czech Republic
Pool A
No. 4 Canada (3-0) v No. 6 USA (1-2)
7-1 (5 innings)
Box Score
Play-by-Play
On paper, this would not seem like the game of the day. But it was a suspenseful game until the bottom of the sixth inning. USA’s pitching staff allowed Canada to score all their runs in the sixth and march to a 7-1 win.
USA got on board quick as Matthew Ratliff led the game off with a walk before stealing second. Three batters later, Erick Ochoa would hit to center-field to score Ratliff. Canada tried to answer back putting runners on second and third, but a strike-out ended the inning 1-0 in USA’s favor.
Canada threatened to cross the plate again in the fourth when Bradley Ezekiel singled and back-to-back walks loaded the bases with no outs. But USA got out of the jam unscathed with a strike-out and double play.
A little bit of controversy occurred in the fifth inning. Brandon Horn hit a long ball to deep center but Ratliff made an incredible catch to rob Horn of the home-run. However, the catch looked like it might have been made outside the park, as Ratliff had fallen over the outfield fence. After a conference by the umpiring crew, it was ruled a long fly ball for the second out. Canada lost all of their momentum and ended the inning with an infield grounder, down 1-0.
USA tried to add to their lead in the sixth when Tyler Dudley reached on a fielder’s choice and came up looking injured. A two-out single by Patrick Sagdal pushed Dudley to second before he asked for a pinch-runner. But a line drive to center stranded the two runners leaving the game still 1-0 USA.
Veteran pitcher Tony Mancha fell apart in the sixth, walking five straight before being replaced by rookie Mervin Weiler with the bases loaded and no outs, down two. Ryan Boland then doubled to left-center to score three, followed by two more singles to score Boland. Shane Boland grounded into a double play, but Mathieu Roy was able to score. USA finally got out of the inning as Ezekiel grounded out to second with Canada up 7-1.
The disastrous six inning ended things for USA as they went three-up three-down in the top of the seventh.
With the in, Canada remains undefeated and atop Pool A with Dominican Republic.
Win: Devon McCullough
Loss: Tony Mancha
Save: Sean O’Leary
Next up:
Canada – 10 July at 4:30pm against Hong Kong
USA – 10 July at 11:30am against India
