Eudomar Toyo delivered a solid performance on the mound for Venezuela, giving up just one run on seven hits and striking out six batters, while Erwin Diaz had one hit and two RBIs that were good enough to beat a tough Japanese side on Tuesday in the XVII WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup.
The crowd at Rosedale Park were on their feet as both squads kept the game scoreless in the first four innings followed by the three thrilling frames.
The win gives Venezuela a strong chance to progress being locked in a share of third place with Japan with a two win-two loss record. The South Americans are heavily favoured to progress as they take on the winless Denmark tomorrow while Japan face a mountain to climb in group leader, Canada.
Engelbert
Herrera singled to the left centre and eventually reaching the home plate after
another single from Edinson Marrero for one tick on the scoreboard in the bottom
of the fourth inning.
World No. 2 Japan tried to keep up with their South American rivals, ranked ninth in the world, by going on the offensive in the batter’s box that helped get Hikaru Matsuda and Kotaro Yasumi into scoring positions. However, they were retired on a double play to end the top of the fifth.
Carlos Villegas moved to first base off a single. Rogelio
Sequera also hit a single, moving Villegas to second base. As Rafael Flores
reached on fielder’s choice, Villegas was struck out on third, but Sequera
progressed to second base.
With Sequera and Flores in scoring positions, Venezuela amplified
their mission to log more runs and they successfully completed it when Diaz
doubled to left centre to extend the advantage to 3-0.
Japan kept its hopes alive when Taiyo Kataoka tripled to the left centre and scored the run on the next play from Kazuya Toriyama who singled up the middle. However, Toyo recovered quickly and struck out the next three Japanese batters to close the game in Venezuela’s favour 3-1.
Quotes: Venezuela Coach Luis Russo
"We are very happy with the team performance today. I have belief for this team because I know they are warriors.
"It was an important win tonight which keeps us firing in the tournament with a chance for the Super Round.
"The best part of the performance tonight was the attitude of the team – they were fully focussed and not worrying about the game before, just what was in- front of them.
"Tomorrow we will have the same attitude."
