Exciting players, tough competition expected in Women’s Baseball World Cup Group A as managers announce their Opening Day starters at press conference

With only one day to go for the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup opener, the managers of the six participating teams answered questions from the media and talked about Tuesday's opening day games. They also announced the starters for their first game of the tournament.

Two of the candidates to advance to next year’s Finals, Australia and USA will face off on opening day. 

“There’s always pressure on anything we do. We’re just excited to showcase what we’ve done since 2018, we’ve been building to prove we’re the best in the world,” said USA manager Veronica Alvarez, who announced Elise Berger as her starter for Tuesday's game. “We are really excited to get back in the international stage and showcase what we’ve done in the past five years.”

Meanwhile, Australia announced youngster Genevieve Beacom as their starter against the US. “We know what we must do. We’ve had five years to prepare for this. If you don’t know what to do after five years, you have done something wrong,” commented manager Jason Pospishil. “She is one of the most exciting players in our roster. She has played in men's teams her entire career, so this is the first time for her to compete in a women’s international event.”

For Game 3 against Mexico, Canada’s manager Anthony Pluta will send Raine Padgham to the mound. The host team is qualified for next year’s Finals, but this doesn’t make any difference for Pluta, who has the same goal as any other team. “We are looking to come in and compete and trying to go 5-0.”

Rosa del Castillo will be Mexico’s starter against Canada. “We need them to have fun tomorrow. If they can do it, then the results will come,” said Vicente Jimenez, manager of the Mexican National Team. “They are all really good players, and they’re going to demonstrate that on the field.”

Hong Kong, China and Korea will meet in Game 1 of the competition, in a key matchup for the two Asian teams. 

“We know each other,” said Man ho Wan, Hong Kong, China’s manager. “We have played Korea in previous tournaments, especially in the Asian Qualifier this year. We lost two games against them, but hopefully we can get a better result this time.” For his team, the starting pitcher will be the right-hander Lau Hei Ting.

“We won against Hong Kong in the Asian Qualifiers, but we had a lot of errors in those games,” said Korea’s manager Sangmoon Yang. “Hopefully we have a better attitude, we don’t make as many errors, have some fun and hopefully win the game.” Sangmoon Yang will give the ball to Minsung Park to open the game.

Players to watch

Asked about the players to watch in each team, managers didn’t hesitate in naming their top individuals in the roster.

“You should keep an eye on everybody, they are all super exciting players from one to 20,” said Alvarez, manager of USA. “But we have Ashton Landsell who is an exciting player, Alex Hugo, Jade Gortarez. I can name them on and on. Megan Meidlinger who is one of our closers. Honestly, this list can go forever.”

“Our starting center fielder Morgan Doty, she is a veteran in her third World Cup, she’s really athletic,” said Australia’s manager Pospishil. "And of course, Beacom. People know her for pitching in the Australian Baseball League, but this is going to be her first international women’s baseball event. They are our most exciting players to watch in the team. We have a young squad, with plenty of first-time players. So, we have a good mix.” 

“I can name a list of 20 athletes to watch in this tournament,” said Anthony Pluta, Baseball Canada manager. “But some of the super exiting players are Allison Schroder, we have Raine Padgham who is back from last year’s team, and great up and coming talent that will be fun to watch this week.”

“We have worked hard to put together this team,” said Korea’s manager Sangmoon Yang. “Minsung Park is our ace, and we really trust on her arm to lead our team.”

Vicente Jimenez also named Mexico’s players to watch in the tournament. “We selected our team for the World Cup after the National Championship in Hidalgo. We have some important players in this team, some of them are Rosa del Castillo, Samaria Benitez, Marcela Diaz. All our players are really good.”