U-15 Women's Softball World Cup Day 3: Japan and USA keep perfect win records; Mexico and Chinese Taipei pick up third victories
The action in the group stage of the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup is gaining momentum as the teams try to fight for a spot in the Super Round.
Day 3 features matchups between Peru and Chinese Taipei 10:00, Mexico and New Zealand at 12:30, and New Zealand and Chinese Taipei at 15:00 in Komazawa Olympic Park Sports Complex Baseball Stadium.
Hosts Japan play Italy at 12:30, USA take on Puerto Rico at 15:00, and the Philippines face Puerto Rico at 18:00 in Setagaya City Okura Sports Center Baseball Ground.
Day 3 Results
Peru v Chinese Taipei 0-7
Chinese Taipei secured their second win in the tournament with a 7-0 five-inning finish against Peru, opening the games in Setagaya on Day 3.
Chinese Taipei started with a four-run first inning, jumpstarted Ruo-Xin Xu's triple to left and topped by Yen-Ting Chiu's single.
A two-run second inning followed, as Xu was significant in the offensive sequence, hitting a single to right field to plate Yi-Jie Chuang, before Pei-Wun Wu singled to right field, allowing Xu to cross home plate.
In the fifth inning, Xu once again singled to right to push Chuang for the final run, providing all the offence Chinese Taipei needed to take the win.
Mexico v New Zealand 7-1
Mexico were on to their third win in the tournament against New Zealand with a 7-1 scoreline, improving their record to 3-1.
A sacrifice fly for Izarely Almaguer put Mexico first on the board with one run in the top of the first.
Mexico extended their lead to 4-0 courtesy in the top of the third with Aryanna Salazar's run initiated by Savannah Salazar's single. Salazar and Karina Rodriguez Ibarra capitalised off a drop fly, completing two runs.
Mexico added two more runs, before New Zealand finally got to score their first run and trail 6-1 in the fourth inning. Mexico kept their pace and logged another run in the fifth to put the margin back to six.
Mexico forced the three outs in the bottom of the seventh to finalise their game victory.
Japan v Italy 12-0
Japan enjoy a three-game winning start, following a 12-0 win over Italy at Setagaya on Monday morning to stay unbeaten in the tournament.
Japan operated their offence at will, hitting two singles before the third single from Saki Anraku pushed Lilia Lewis and Yumeka Kagen to home plate for the two runs in the top of the first. Anraku later scored the run on a wild pitch to put Japan up 3-0.
Japan started again on their offence in the top of the fourth with a triple from Lewis to get Hana Nakanishi scoring the fourth run.
Even with the defensive and pitching changes the Italian implemented after the play, they were not able to stop Rachika Sakuragi from executing a single and setting up Lewis for another run to update the score to 5-0.
Japan sneaked in another run in the fifth for a 6-0 lead, then scored another two in the sixth that prompted Italy to make some changes on their defence. Japan eluded that and scored four more off Risora Kajime's double and Lewis' single, doubling their earlier score to 12-0.
New Zealand v Chinese Taipei 0-8
Chinese Taipei have won their third consecutive game, following their 8-0 victory against New Zealand. Chinese Taipei lost to hosts Japan on opening day.
Chinese Taipei put two runs up on the board in the bottom of the second inning, as Pei-Wun Wu and Yi-Hsuan Tien crossed the plate after wild pitches.
They intensified their offence in the next stanza by producing five runs. A wild pitch put Zeng Kai-Hua Zeng and Yu-ling Wu to scoring position. Yi-Zhen Zhuang singled to advance Zeng and Yu to home plate for the first two runs.
Zhuang scored the next run on a stolen base with Wu in tow to second base. We eventually scored a run on an error, until the USA scoring closed with Tien touching home plate on a Yi-Jie Chuang single. They squeezed in another run in the bottom of the fourth before the game closed in the fifth.
USA v Puerto Rico 6-0
Prior to the game, USA and Puerto Rico had an undefeated record, and the former's 6-0 win over the latter gave them solo leadership in Group B.
USA's offence started on an Aspen Boulware walk and later converted into the team's first run on an RBI single in the middle by Sofia Hernandez.
USA struck again in the top of the second with a solo homer to deep left by Anabela Abdullah to increase the lead to 2-0. Puerto Rico managed to stop the momentum as they struck out the next three USA batters.
The next three frames went silent as both sides managed the batters well to keep each frame scoreless. Boulware disrupted the peace with a solo homer to deep right field to give USA a 3-0 edge.
USA tacked on their final three runs on a ground out, a single and a double to the left field to stay undefeated in Group B.
Philippines v Puerto Rico
Quick Links
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