Japan outscore Chinese Taipei to open Women's Baseball World Cup Finals
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<p>World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 2 Chinese Taipei, <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-ix-womens-baseball-world-cup-finals/schedule-and-results/box-score/131781" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="9-4 (opens in a new tab)">9-4</a>, to open the Women's Baseball World Cup Finals. Wakana Mori pitched nine solid innings to earn the win. After a quick Japanese lead, the game went tied into the fourth. The fourth and fifth Japanese at-bats broke the score open.</p>
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<p>Both teams missed scoring opportunities in the first.</p>
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<p>Iori Miura doubled on the fifth pitch delivered by Chinese Taipei starter Wen-Ching Hsieh. Japan bunted her to third, and Hsieh allowed a one-out walk. With runners at the corners, Japan tried to squeeze in the game's first run. Miwa Naraoka dropped a comebacker, and Hsieh had plenty of time to assist catcher Shih Yun Lee. Naraoka was trapped for the second out, and Hsieh got out of the at-bat with a flyout.</p>
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<p>Shortstop Yu-Ying Hsieh led off the bottom of the first with a base hit. Chinese Taipei bunted her to second, and Hsiao-Mei Cheng followed with a single through the right side. With runners at the corners, Chiao-Yun Huang sent a swinging bunt to the mound, and Mori got the second out at home. Runners advanced to third and second on a double steal, but Mori ended the inning by getting the third out on strikes.</p>
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<p>Japan took the lead in the top of the second. Miura hit a two-out and two-RBI double. She advanced to third on the play and scored on Haruna Tadano's single to make it 3-0. The at-bat ended when Tadan tried to score from second on a single by Miwa Naraoka and became the third out at the plate.</p>
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<p>Japan failed to execute a double play in the bottom of the third and Chinese Taipei thrived on it, scoring the first run on a bases-loaded walk and tying the game on a two-RBI single by Yi-Hsuan Chiu. Japan got the third out of the at-bat at home plate.</p>
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<p>Hsieh hit Ayaka Deguchi to lead off the first. Miura bunted her to second, and Tadano followed with a base hit. With runners at third and second, Yuki Kawabata went deep to left field. Yen-Tzu Hung ran the ball down but couldn't prevent Daguchi from scoring. Miwa Naraoka cleared the bases with an RBI double, extending Japan's lead to 5-3.</p>
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<p>Hsieh left with a runner at second and one out in the top of the fifth. Kae Iwami singled on reliever Yu-Pei Chen's second pitch to extend Japan's lead to 6-3. Pinch hitter Yazuha Nakamura and Miura hit infield singles to manufacture another run.</p>
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<p>Chinese Taipei cut the gap to 7-4 in the bottom half of the frame. Chiao-Yun Huang reached on a two-out double and scored on Pei-Chen Huang's RBI single.</p>
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<p>Japan added an insurance run in the top of the sixth on Osada's sacrifice fly.</p>
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<p>Natsuki Kubo took the mound for Japan in the bottom of the sixth. The reliever allowed a couple of hits but got herself out of trouble by striking out the side.</p>
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<p>Li-Ching Huang took the mound for Chinese Taipei in the top of the seventh. Japan took advantage of a defensive error and extended the lead to 9-4.</p>
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<p>Chinese Taipei will open Day 2 facing No. 3 Venezuela, while Japan will play the night game against No. 7 Canada.</p>
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