GameTime Classics, Episode 2: Re-live the Japan-USA Final of the 2018 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship

GameTime Classics, Episode 2: Re-live the Japan-USA Final of the 2018 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship
26/03/2020
A record-crowd of approximately 12,000 witnessed this instant classic in Chiba, Japan, between two softball powerhouses.

Softball fans from around the world will have the opportunity to re-live one of the most memorable games in the history of the sport: the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2018 final between USA and Japan, in the second episode of the WBSC Game Time Classics series, an initiative to re-stream full games of top international baseball and softball competitions as people around the world are under lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Tonight's Japan vs. USA blockbuster game will be available to watch for free at 9 pm Eastern Standard Time (10:00 am in Japan and Korea, and 2:00 am Central European Time), at www.youtube.com/wbsc; and tomorrow at 9 am Eastern Standard Time (10:00 pm in Japan and Korea, and 2:00 pm Central European Time) at www.facebook.com/wbsc.

Host Japan and USA -- the top two nations in the world -- faced off on 12 August 2018 at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba, in the Final of the WBSC Women's Softball World Championship. A record-attendance of approximately 12,000 fans witnessed this instant classic.

USA had qualified for the World Championship Game the day before, after an 8-inning victory over Japan, by a score of 4-3, with a walk-off single by Rachel Garcia off Yamato Fujita, who pitched the complete game for Japan.

In the semi-final, Japan shut out Canada, 3-0, with a complete-game effort by Yukiko Ueno, to set up the blockbuster match-up with USA in the World Championship Game.

Softball superstars Ueno, Eri Yamada, Yu Yamamoto, Fujita, Monica Abbott, Delaney Spaulding, Ali Aguilar and Kelsey Stewart played a key role in this memorable match.

The next episodes of the WBSC GameTime Classics series will include the 2016 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Bronze Medal Game between Chinese Taipei and Venezuela (airing on 27 March), and a nail-biter between Mexico and New Zealand in the 2019 WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship (airing on 28 March).