South Africa
claimed their first victory in the XVII WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup on Tuesday,
with a 5-3 win over Denmark at Rosedale Park.
Tyler Croft
was the hero of the game as he gave South Africa an instant three-run lead
after his home run in the fourth inning.
Denmark got
on the board on the bottom of the third inning when Oscar Andersen’s single
drew a run for Martin Simonsen who earlier reached base on fielder’s choice.
South Africa wiped that 1-0 lead in the next half inning as they logged four runs to take the lead 4-1. It started when Phomolo Phaladi put himself in scoring position after he singled through the left side and completed the run after Mankomoro Chepape hit a single to the right field.
As Mogau Thupudi doubled to right field, Chepape neared home plate at third, before Tyler Croft hit a three-run homer to deep right field.
Denmark refused to give up, as Kim Hansen did not allow any runs for South Africa and the team responded with two runs in the fifth inning. The first run was built on consecutive walks that put Anton Larsen and Valdemar Terkelsen on base, until Daniel Julenon doubled to the left field, opening it for Larsen to score one run.
Terkelsen was eventually out as he tried to reach home plate, but Julenon later on redeemed the play as he completed the run, putting Denmark within striking distance at 4-3.
South Africa wasted no time in the sixth inning and scored their final run in the game through Rowan Ebersohn’s double and a passed ball. The next one and a half winning went scoreless in favour of the African side who recorded their first win with a 5-3 scoreline.
Quotes: South Africa Coach Malemolla Raphasha
"I am happy and the team is happy. We were well prepared. We made a change for a new pitcher to start (36 year old Tidima Kekana). The new pitcher change worked well for us. We started to strategize with the new pitcher – and that is why we won this game.
"The win means a lot to us because we had not won a single game so this is the first win. I had one World Cup as a player and we did not win, and did not have a win as a coach until today. We are very happy."
Denmark Coach Craig Wallace
"Our effort was poor. We were too flat all game. I felt we had no energy and just turned up and played today. We had three tough games working into today – ideal preparation for this team, but we didn’t front. We were poor, very poor.
"We came out yesterday to lose to Japan 3-0 and I thought we played very well. But all that good work went for nothing because we did not come out with any energy today. We didn’t have good at-bats.
"Defensively we were ok. We didn’t adjust – their pitcher kept coming at us with the same stuff over and over but we did not adjust and kept doing the same thing over and over. At a World Cup you can’t just turn up and go through the motions. You have to come out with a bit of want and fight but we did not turn up today."
