Baseball and softball fans in Lithuania will be rejoicing across the country after their Baseball5 team pulled off a massive upset by beating global baseball, softball powerhouse Japan in the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup in El Zocalo, Mexico City on Wednesday.
Lithuania, ranked 37th in the WBSC Men’s Baseball World Rankings, 46th in Women’s Softball, 34th in Men’s Softball won the Group A contest 3-2, 4-0 against Japan, who are ranked No. 1 in Men’s and Women’s Baseball and No. 2 in Men’s and Women’s Softball.
It was
Lithuania’s first win of the tournament after losing the opening game of the
tournament on Monday 5-3, 4-2 to hosts Mexico before suffering the same fate against
tournament favourites Cuba 7-1, 13-1 on Tuesday. Later on Wednesday, the
European vice champions beat Hong Kong 10-3, 6-2 to sit fourth in Group A with
two wins and two defeats with Cuba, Japan and Mexico ahead of them.
Lithuania head coach Eimantas Zickus was ecstatic with the win telling
the WBSC how his team had used the previous defeats to learn. “It was our third game and we were already warmed up and we already
knew how to play,” he
said. “We also already watched Japan playing, and how
each player playing. We just tried to adapt as much as we could.
“This is an amazing tournament in an inspirational venue. I am thankful to the WBSC and Mexico for having such a wonderful, great first Baseball5 World Cup.”
The game also proved historic with three female officials on the court at the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup for the first time. Marisol Martinez on home plate, Thalia Villavicencio (first base) and Diana Adame (second base) all from Mexico were joined by Karim Mejiri (third base) of Tunisia.
Lithuania has only previously participated in three WBSC Baseball Cups finishing 18th at the 2014 edition of the U-15 Baseball World Cup without winning a game, having finished 14th two years earlier where they beat Indonesia twice. These are the only previous victories for Lithuania in a WBSC World Cup. They have played Japan once previously losing 16-0 in the first ever U-12 Baseball World Cup where they went winless in six games.
For Japan, they bounced back quickly from the defeat to Lithuania to beat South Africa 3-0, 8-5 later in the day to move into second place in the group.
