- Canada beat USA in first Super Round game, Australia beat Cuba in second and Argentina won against Venezuela.
- Czech Republic beat Denmark in first Placement Round game and Japan beat the Philippines before New Zealand were too good for South Africa.
- Top six teams from the Opening Round play in the Super Round. Bottom six teams play in the Placement Round. Teams take the results of their games against fellow Super Round or Placement Round teams with them.
- Super Round Standings: Canada (3-0), Argentina (3-0), Australia (2-1); USA (1-2), Venezuela (0-3), Cuba (0-3)
- Placement Round Standings: Japan (3-0); New Zealand (3-0), Czech Republic (2-1), South Africa (1-2); Philippines (0-3), Denmark (0-3)
- Tournament Website
- Watch Live on GameTime.Sport
Day 6 Schedule-Results
Denmark 2-7 Czech Republic (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
USA 3-4 Canada (Super Round) Box Score and Play by Play
Philippines 3-8 Japan (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
Cuba 0-3 Australia (Super Round) Box Score and Photos
Venezuela 3-6 Argentina (Super Round) Box Score and Photos
South Africa 0-7 New Zealand (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
Defending champions Argentina and four-time winners Canada lead the Super Round standings after the first day of the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Super Round at Rosedale Park in Auckland, New Zealand on Thursday.
Argentina, who beat Venezuela 6-3, and Canada, who came from behind to beat USA 4-3, are unbeaten with three wins and will play each other on Friday.
Adam Folkard and Jack Besgrove combined to no-hit Cuba in Australia's 3-0 win over Cuba. Veteran superstar Adam Folkard started for Australia and tossed four almost perfect innings. He only hit a batter in the top of the fourth, the only Cuban to reach base in that span of the game. Australia (2-1 win-loss record) will play USA (1-2) on Friday. Venezuela (0-3) and Cuba (0-3) will also play on Friday.
Meanwhile in the Placement Round, thirty-year-old Kazuya Toriyama lit up the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup with three home runs and five RBIs in Japan's 8-3 win over the Philippines. Vojtech Forman’s grand slam helped Czech Republic beat Denmark 7-2 and New Zealand finished the evening game as 7-0 winners over South Africa.
Venezuela v Argentina
The third Super Round game on Thursday sees a battle of the world champions against the South American champions with Argentine winning the last World Cup in 2019 while Venezuela beat Argentina in the 2017 Pan American Championship.
Argentina, unbeaten so far in the tournament, showcasing their true form with their top order quickly into their groove. Teo Migliavacca's triple to right centre scored Alan Peker before Migliavacca scored on a wild pitch and Argentina were up 2-0 at the end of the first innings.
Rafael Flores smashed a huge homer to left field to bring the score back to 2-1 in the top of the third.
Teo Migliavacca scored again in the bottom of the third before Eder Federico got home in the fourth to stretch the lead to 4-1 but Erwin Diaz's single through right field scoring Rogelio Sequera and Carlos Ojeda getting home three batters later, Venezuela had pulled two back 4-3 at the end of the fourth.
But just as Venezuela was getting within touching distance, Alan Peker, arguably one of the best lead off hitters in the game, smashed his third home run of the tournament over centre field to score Federico Eder and put Argentina up 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth.
And with Roman Godoy on the mound, he was able to complete three up and three down to finish the game. Argentina join Canada on top of the Super Round standings with a 3-0 win-loss record. Venezuela move to 0-3.
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South Africa v New Zealand
The Black Sox, who are wearing black armbands in memory of New Zealand Olympic great Murray Halberg, made the perfect start when Jerome Raemaki homered it over the bleachers in right field to put New Zealand 1-0 up.
New Zealand soon extended the lead in the third inning with captain Cole Evans double through left field to score Dante Muatet before Cole scored himself off a Ben Enoka hit past pitcher Grant Oliver and Enoka got home on a wild pitch. New Zealand were up 4-0 bottom of the third.
New Zealand's next turn at bat saw Rhys Evans, with bases loaded, find grass in the left outfield to score Bradley Bennett and Pita Rona before Cameron Watts also crossed and with the Black Sox 7-0 they just three outs for victory, which they duly delivered in the next inning.
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Cuba v Australia
The second Super Round game of the day sees a fascinating match up between world No. 12 Cuba against Australia, ranked fourth in the world. Australia took an early lead on an illegal pitch but not much is otherwise separating the two teams.
Adam Folkard wasn't giving away any hits while Alan Roman, who has pitched the most number of innings in the tournament, was doing an equally good job. It took a Nick Shailes homer in the bottom of the third for Australia to open a 2-0 lead and another homer, the biggest of the week at Rosedale Park, in the sixth - first pitch after a pitching change with Guber Plutin on for Roman - this time from Hayden Mathews took it to 3-0.
Australia, meanwhile, combined for a no-hitter with Folkard, backed up by Jack Besgrove, a star from the U-18 Softball World Cup in 2020, pitching four and three innings respectively.
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USA v Canada
Fascinating match up between the five time champions USA and four time champs Canada in the first Super Round game. Canada were unbeaten in Group B while USA took a 3-1 win-loss record into the game.
It started very tight in the first innings but Cameron Schiller blew the form book open with a bomb over centre field in the second to score Matt Palazzo and Jonathan Lynch. USA 3-0 after two.
But Canada, who had impressed so far in the tournament, fought their way back with Brad Ezekiel and Quinten Bruce scoring in the bottom of the fourth before Shane Boland hit his first home run of the tournament to tie the game up at 3-3.
Bryan Abrey then collected the key RBI to deep right centre to score Bruce and give Canada the lead in the bottom of the seventh. A lead they held onto once USA couldn't score in the top of the seventh.
Unbeaten Canada improve their record to 3-0 in the Super Round while USA is now 1-2.
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Philippines v Japan
Japan beat the Philippines 7-0 during the Super Round of the Asian Cup in September before repeating the result in the final 9-2.
World No. 2 Japan also beat the Philippines 10-0 at the 2019 Men's Softball World Cup but it was the Philippines who started better with Mark Gaspi getting home on a Julius Diaz single in the first inning.
Japan, who claimed the silver medal in 2019, struck back in the second with Tei Hamamoto his second home run in two games, scoring Taiyo Kataoka before Kazuya Toriyama repeated the feat, scoring Yusuke Morita.
Toriyama homered for the second time in the bottom of the fourth to stretch the lead to 5-1 before the Philippines pulled one back in the sixth with Gaspi scoring again on another Diaz line drive. Michael Pagkaliwagan also scored in the sixth to make it 5-3 with one inning left before Toriyama homered for the third time! Seii Kuroiwa also scored to make it 8-3 after six, which was the final result.
Japan moved to a 3-0 win-loss record for the Placement Round, the Philippines are 0-3.
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Denmark v Czech Republic
After an incredible Opening Round which went down to the last game, which saw Cuba beat New Zealand to the last Super Round spot, we start today with a repeat of the European Championship final in 2021, with the Czech Republic (1-1) playing Denmark (0-2). The Czech Republic won this game 4-2 and being ranked fifth in the world, compared to world No. 10 Denmark, they're expected to win this one as well.
The European champions started with Martin Magula scoring in the bottom of the first as Marek Maly was ground out and again in the third on a sacrifice fly by Mikulas Klas. Jan Hospodka scored on a Marek Volf double in the third to put Czech Republic up 3-0.
Tobias Holmelund struck back for Denmark with a massive homer over left field to pull one back in the fifth but Czech Republic responded next inning with Vojtech Forman's grand slam homer to deep left corner scoring Vojtech Buchner, George Harris and Lukas Kubat.
Anders Svane's single, scoring Anton Brown in the top of the seventh was the last scoring play of the game as Czech Republic wrapped it up to improve their record to 2-1. Denmark is now 0-3.
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Day 5 Results
Australia 15-0 South Africa Box Score and Photos
USA 3-5 Argentina Box Score and Photos
Czech Republic 6-1 Philippines Box Score and Photos
Japan 2-9 Canada Box Score and Photos
Venezuela 8-3 Denmark Box Score and Photos
New Zealand 0-1 Cuba (9 innings) Box Score and Photos
Opening Round Group A Standings: Argentina 5-0; USA 3-2; Cuba 3-2; New Zealand 2-3; Czech Republic 2-3; Philippines 0-5
Opening Round Group B Standings: Canada 5-0; Australia 4-1; Venezuela 3-2; Japan 2-3; South Africa 1-4; Denmark 0-5;
