26/11/2022 - 04/12/2022

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XVII Men's Softball World Cup 2022 - Official Payoff

Men’s Softball World Cup Super Round Final Day: Australia beat Argentina in tiebreaker, book spot in final v Canada; USA v Argentina for bronze

Men’s Softball World Cup Super Round Final Day: Australia beat Argentina in tiebreaker, book spot in final v Canada; USA v Argentina for bronze
03/12/2022
Another amazing day's play - with the last two games going to tiebreakers - to determine the teams for the last two games plus Placement Round games. World Championship Final: Australia v Canada at 16:00 on Sunday. Bronze Medal Game: USA v Argentina at 13:00 on Sunday.
  • Super Round: Australia beat defending champions Argentina in the last game of the day to claim a spot in the World Championship final
  • Canada beat Cuba to book the other spot - Sean Cleary one strike away from perfect game.
  • USA beat Venezuela and confirmed a spot in the bronze medal game. Will play world champions Argentina.
  • Super Round Standings: Canada (4-1), Australia (4-1), Argentina (4-1), USA (2-3), Cuba (1-4), Venezuela (0-5)
  • World Championship Final: Australia v Canada at 16:00 on Sunday
  • Bronze Medal Game: USA v Argentina at 13:00 on Sunday
  • Placement Round: Philippines beat South Africa 4-0 to finish in 10th place, South Africa 11th, New Zealand overcame Denmark 2-1, Japan 5-4 Czech Republic in 10th inning
  • Placement Round Standings: Japan (5-0); New Zealand (4-1), Czech Republic (3-2), Philippines (2-3), South Africa (1-4), Denmark (0-5)
  • Tournament Website
  • Watch Live on GameTime.Sport

Australia, seventh at the last World Cup, bagged two runs in an extra inning tiebreaker to overcome previously unbeaten Argentina and earn a place against four-time winners Canada in the final of the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup.

The two teams won through to Sunday’s final at Rosedale Park in Auckland, New Zealand after hard-fought victories on the penultimate day. Canada outlasted Cuba 2-0 while Australia produced a stunning victory in the eighth inning in a colossal battle against defending champions Argentina.

The world No. 1 Argentina will face USA for the third place playoff, after the Americans withstood the challenge from Venezuela 5-1.

Day 8 Results

Venezuela 1-5 USA (Super Round) Box Score and Photos
Cuba 0-2 Canada (Super Round) Box Score and Photos
Philippines 4-0 South Africa (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
Denmark 1-2 New Zealand (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
Czech Republic 5-4 Japan 10th inning (Placement Round) Box Score and Photos
Australia 2-0 Argentina 8th inning (Super Round) Box Score and Photos

Final Ranking
1
2
3
4
5 Cuba
6 Venezuela
7 Japan
8 New Zealand
9 Czech Republic
10 Philippines
11 South Africa
12 Denmark

Australia v Argentina

A place in the World Championship game is on the line to see who will play Canada. If Argentina win, the defending champions are straight through. Australia need to win by a certain margin to eliminate Argentina and join Canada in the final.

Australia are ranked fourth in the world while Argentina, who are undefeated so far in the tournament, are world No. 1.

It's a tight one all the way with the score locked at 0-0. Australia scored the first two runs in the bottom of the eighth and managed to defend it to claim a final spot for the first time since 2017.

Read Match Report

Cuba v Canada

World No. 3 Canada start favourites against Cuba ranked 12th in the world. These two teams have met before in the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup in 1998 when Canada finished thrid and Cuba fourth.

Shane Boland worked his magic to score first for Canada in the bottom of the first. Reaching base on a fielding error, two walks from Guber Plutin saw him score and give Canada a 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile, USA's win over Venezuela confirmed Cuba in fifth position, no matter the result of the game against Canada. It follow's Cuba's 10th place finish at the 2019 edition of the Men's Softball World Cup and a fourth in the 1988 edition.

Boland was in the action again in the fourth inning, flying out to centre field to score Jason Hill to put Canada 2-0 up.

Sean Cleary was one strike away from a perfect game when he walked Hector Castillo with two outs in the top of the seventh. He then lost the no-hitter when Yurisamdre Ramos hit back to him and managed to reach first. With the game on a knife edge - one home run could have won it for Cuba - Cleary struck out Roger Rosete, which put Canada into the final.

Read Match Report

Venezuela v USA

USA won this game 7-4 at the 2019 Men's Softball World Cup and ranked seventh in the world, is expected to have too much for Venezuela, who are ranked ninth.

Nic Mullins scored for USA in the top of the first on a Erick Ochoa ground out, having previously hit a double to right field. A Cameron Schiller double to centre field scored Jonathan Lynch and USA were 2-0 after two innings.

USA looked like they were on their way to a bronze medal game spot when they extended their lead to 4-0 when Jordan Sherman and Blaine Milheim scored.

Venezuela were doing their best to stay in the game and Engelbert Herrera's single scoring Rogelio Sequera was their just reward. But USA responded immediately with Tyler Johnson's single to left field scoring Matt Palazzo to maintain the gap at four runs 5-1, a lead which USA kept.

The win means USA will improve on their fifth place finish in 2019 and will be the first medal game since finishing fourth in 2009 and 2004 as well as claiming bronze in 2000. They'll be looking to claim their fourth bronze medal and 10th Men's Softball World Cup medal overall.

Read Match Report

Placement Round

Philippines beat South Africa 4-0 to finish 10th for the fourth time and the first time since 2009. South Africa finished in 11th place, up from 12th in 2019. Read Match Report

New Zealand beat Denmark 2-1 but Japan's win confirmed them an eighth place finish. New Zealand's previous worst finish was fifth in 1968. Denmark finished in 12th place, having finished ninth in 2019. Read Match Report

Japan beat the Czech Republic in a 10 inning thriller to finish seventh. There were home runs, great catches and defensive plays so it was sad for the game to finish on a miss field. Read Match Report