India earned today its first victory on the tournament beating South Africa, 5-4, in a very close game. Gaurav Chaudhari took the victory with a complete game, 11-strikeout effort. It’s the second win ever for India in JMSWC, since they beat Singapore in Parana 2012 by a score of 10-0.
In the bottom of the third inning South Africa scored the first run of the game. Damian Overmeyer walked to first, and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. Then he scored on an RBI single to right field off the bat of Reece Nyland.
But India answered immediately with an RBI single by Rutik Phate to center field to plate Patrik Dukare. The Indian catcher had reached first on a base on balls, and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
One inning later they took the lead of the game with a double by Chirag Sangwan and a single by Nikhil Nayak to plate the go ahead run.
In the sixth they added two more runs with an RBI single off the bat of Phate, and a perfectly executed squeeze play by Pranay Bhongade, to make the score 4-1.
In the bottom of the sixth South Africa scored again. Chaudhari made a mistake, left the pitch in the middle of the zone and Nyland hit a long home run to left field, to reduce the deficit to 4-2.
But India struck again in the top of the seventh with a stand-up triple by Dukare, plating Chaudhari, to regain the three-run lead.
However, South Africa tried to earn their second came from behind, walkoff victory of the tournament. A 2-RBI single by Joshua Wentzel made it a one run game, and then Nyland walked to put two runners on base with two outs. But Chaudhari fanned Nathan Pletshke to end the game.
India (1-1) will have tomorrow a day off. They will play against Japan on Wednesday, at 12:30 local time.
Australia kept its winning streak alive today, with a four-inning, 18-0 victory over Denmark and will be at the top of the Group A for at least one more day. A nine-run first inning attack set the tone for the game, while Bradley Kilpatrick and Layton Reid combined for a no hit no run.
USA clinched today its first win of the tournament, defeating Hong Kong, 11-1, in five innings. The American team scored multiple runs in every attack. Jeffrey Lewis hit a two-run hom run in the first inning, while Jason Obregon did the same in the third. Craig Lewis earned the win, allowing 3 hits, 1 run and 4 walks, with 6 strikeouts
