WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Group B Day 2: Cuba and China stay undefeated; top standings

Day two of the WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Group B continued to provide superb drama and excitement as the race for the playoff spots intensify.

Cuba, ranked 28^th in the world, and world No. 11 China stayed undefeated on another hot day’s play of action at the Camp Municipal de Beisbol i Sofbol de València, with Cuba beating South Africa and Spain 10-3 and 2-1 respectively while China held on in a thrilling opening game of the day, beating the Netherlands 5-4 in a clash, which saw the lead change hands numerous times.

Cuba stands on top of the standings with three wins from three games with China having won their two opening games.

Spain and Group B favourites Puerto Rico, who recorded their first win of the tournament beating South Africa 8-1 on Wednesday, currently sit in the playoff spots – third and fourth.

The Netherlands, who have lost to Cuba and China so far, and South Africa are still looking for their first wins of the tournament.

Day Two Results
Netherlands v China 4-5 Box Score/Play by Play Highlights
Cuba v South Africa 10-3 Box Score/Play by Play Highlights
South Africa v Puerto Rico 1-8 Box Score/Play by Play Highlights
Spain v Cuba 1-2 Box Score/Play by Play Highlights

Photos of the Day

• Min Ren hits first home run of the tournament during China's game against the Netherlands before Uxua Modrego blasts one over left field for Spain against Cuba
• Puerto Rico and South Africa grab their first runs of the tournament, against South Africa and Cuba respectively
• With the Netherlands v China thriller finishing at 12:30, the second game between Cuba and South Africa, originally scheduled for 12:30, started at 12:50. And with Cuba and South Africa finishing at 14:40, the start time of South Africa v Puerto Rico changed to 15:10.
• On day one, Cuba beat the Netherlands in the first game of the tournament before China beat tournament favourites Puerto Rico and Spain beat South Africa. Full Schedule/Results
• Great media coverage of the tournament including on major Spanish sport's paper Marca.
• Group B in Valencia, Spain sees the hosts, ranked 12th in the world, welcome No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Netherlands, No. 11 China, No. 28 Cuba and No. 38 South Africa from 18-22 July. See Preview
• Valencia ready to welcome the world
• 12 players to watch
• By the Numbers
• Photos
• Watch Live on GameTime.Sport

Spain v Cuba

Both teams coming off good wins on the first day with Spain beating South Africa 14-0 while Cuba claimed an impressive 4-3 win over the Netherlands in the opening game of the tournament and a 10-3 win over South Africa earlier today.

Cuba break the deadlock in the bottom of the third when YIllian Rondon's single to deep centre and the throw from captain Uxua Modrego couldn't beat Elizabeth Robert running home from second base.

But Spain hit right back next inning with the skipper blasting over left field to tie the ball game up 1-1. Cuba's Lisaidy Samon backpedalled with her eye on the ball but could only run into the outfield fence and watch the ball fly over in what was the second home run of the day and the tournament.

Cuba got back in front thanks to a fly ball by Yanisleidys Casanova to left field, which dropped to ground near the left field foul line, out of reach of a running Candela Garcia, which allowed Maidelis Reyes to reach home.

Pause in play in the bottom of the fifth at 19:03 with the pitching circle needing some repairs. The landing spot for the pitchers front foot on the edge of the circle seems to be starting to be worn, with the edge of the Astro turf fraying while a divot is also starting to develop. The ground crew are on deck and giving the pitching circle the proper treatment.

Pitching all repaired and play resumed at 19:15 with Cuba's Leannelys Zayas at bat with Robert on first, 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, score 2-1 to Cuba.

Yilian Tornes starred again pitching a whole game for the second time in three games to keep the Spanish batters and their fans quiet as Cuba wrapped up their third win of the tournament 2-1.

South Africa v Puerto Rico

Having just lost to Cuba 7-3, South Africa plays their second of back-to-back games against Puerto Rico. A tough assignment with Puerto Rico the tournament favourites ranked fourth in the world while South Africa is ranked 38th.

Both sides looking for their first win of the tournament after Puerto Rico lost to China on day one and South Africa have suffered defeats to Spain one day one and Cuba in the previous game.

Start of the game between two of the youngest squads in this event features the three youngest players in Group B with Puerto Rico pitcher Mocey Cintron, catcher Camille Ortiz and South African designated player Melissa Savage all 18 years old. The three of them were on screen at the same time in the top of the first with Savage strikes out looking.

Puerto Rico gets on the board in their first turn at bat with star pitcher Aleshia Ocasio, playing this game as a designated player batting in position 1, scoring on a Karla Claudio fly ball to centre field. Puerto Rico leads 1-0 after the first innings.

A Ortiz triple to centre field, which went over Johandri van der Walt's head, scored Carsyn Gordon before Ocasio hit a ground ball to right field to score Ortiz. Puerto Rico 3-0 up after two.

Puerto Rico stretched theor lead with Camille Martinez scoring from third on a Janelle Martinez single down the left field line before Janelle Martinez scored herself followed by Jade Soto, Ocasio and Kathyria Garcia to put the world No. 4 8-0 ahead at the bottom of the fourth.

Running in place of Cassandra Kalpens from second base, Emily Mahlalela put South Africa on the board in the top of the fifth after Nushka de Beer hit down the left field line, but it wasn't enough to stop Puerto Rico winning 8-1 in the top of the fifth by the run ahead rule.

Cuba v South Africa

Due to the late finish of the China v Netherlands thriller, the Cuba v South Africa game started at 12:50.

Cuba get on the board in the top of the second inning with Yanisleidys Casanova's triple to centre field scoring Rosangela Jardines and Lisaidy Samon before Casanova scores on a Elizabeth Robert ground out.

Top of the third and Yarianna Lopez triples to left centre to score Yillian Rondon before Lopez scores herself. A ground rule double by Maidelis Reyes to deep left field scores Rosangela Jardines who was on second. Casanova grounds out to second base Rachel Matsimela who fires over to Thandi Malebana at first but Lisaidy Samon still gets home to put Cuba 7-0 up in the top of the third.

But just as Cuba might have thought they had the game wrapped up with the run ahead rule in the fifth innings, and with veteran pitching star Anisley Lopez throwing thunderbolts, Ammaarah Larney scores South Africa's first run of the tournament to make it 7-1 after Cassandra Kalpens singled through to deep right field.

Two pitches later and there was more South African celebration with Shane Luyt's superb double to left field over the head of Jennifer Pocena scoring Rachel Matsimela and Cassandra Kalpens.

Wasn't long after that Yamerki Guevara was back in the Cuban pitching circle having claimed eight strikeouts and given up only one hit in the first three innings of the game.

Cuba added one more in the top of the sixth with Jardines' doubles to deep left field scoring Rondon on a Ground Rule Double while Lopez scored off a Pocena fly ball to right field to put Cuba up 9-3. Jardines also scored after a Casanova fly ball to right field just fell out of reach of Cassandra Kalpens, who looked to get a glove on it as she ran in to try and catch it.

In the end Guevara did the job and the game finished after six innings courtesy of the run ahead rule to give Cuba their second win from as many games.

Netherlands v China

European champions the Netherlands take on China looking to bounce back from yesterday's opening 4-3 defeat to Cuba while China are looking for their second win in two games after beating favourites Puerto Rico 2-0.

Like yesterday's opening games, another fantastic game on the cards with great defence with both pitchers working themselves out of trouble.

Brenda Beers breaks the deadlock in the top of the third as she squeezes home, with loaded bases, on a wide throw from Yue Xie at short stop to home, following a mis-hit from Cindy Van der Zanden.

The Netherlands score two more with Laura Wissink up next at bat. With the infield in close for the bunt, her blooper pops over second base, allowing Maxime van Dalen and Jessie van Aalst to get home. The Netherlands soon had loaded bases again but with Yuchen Wei replacing Yinan Chai in the pitcher's circle, she managed to keep the score at 3-0.

Seeing the Netherlands get on the scoreboard sparked China into action with Min Ren hitting the first home run of the tournament, a sweet swing over the left field fence to score Jiaqi Li and pull the game back to 3-2.

China take the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Jia Xu hits a ground ball past Britt Vonk at shortstop to score Zixuan Dong and Xiaoyan He as for the second game in a row, the Netherlands sees a lead disappear with China now ahead 4-3.

Top of the sixth and the Netherlands work their way to load the bases before van Dalen hits a group ball past Xie at second base to score Vonk. In the process of running from second and sliding into third base, Brenda Beers injured her leg and had to be replaced by Dinet Oosting at third. Annemiek Jansen takes Beers' place in left field.

China hit straight back with He hitting sweetly to centre field to score Zixuan Dong in the bottom of the sixth and that was enought o win it for China, their second win from as many games while the Netherlands have lost both their opening games having given up a lead in both contests.

Pregame

The weather, while not reaching the peak of 33 degrees, at 32° most of the day will continue to be a factor in today's play.

Great coverage from the opening day's play of the tournament including in the dedicated Spanish sport's paper Marca.

• Where to watch
• First time that Spain, like Ireland and Italy, hosts a WBSC tournament.
• New sustainable Mizuno ball - the M170 - in play.
• Six teams participating in three groups. Top two teams from Group B “punch a ticket” to the Finals next year. Learn more about the tournament format here.
• USA and Australia advance to Finals 2024 after finishing first and second in Group A in Ireland. Great Britain finished third. Check out the Group A review.
• Group C in Castions di Strada and Buttrio, Italy sees world No. 2 and Olympic champions Japan, No. 5 Canada, No. 8 Italy, No. 26 Philippines and No. 29 New Zealand in action from 22-26 July.
• First time the new two-stage format is being used in a WBSC tournament.
• WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Full History
• XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Finals to be played in July 2024 in Italy