It was a big day for the Asian teams as Chinese Taipei and South Korea had to work a little harder but came through with their third victories. They are now tied at the top of the standings, followed by Canada and Australia.
For six innings, Germany smelt an upset against Taiwan. However two runs in the top of the seventh sealed the loss. They received a third straight stellar performance by their starting pitching, which again didn’t get any run-support. They have scored now just two runs in 27 innings. This is not enough. Although they are much better than expected.
South Korea smashed the high hopes of Mexico today. Like in November, the latter started with three defeats into the tournament. Of course, their schedule was much tougher than from the other squads. But their chances now are really slim, besides three remaining games against the underdogs. With Australia they will face another favourite tomorrow.
The Aussies are right back in the mix after defeating Canada due to an outburst by their offense, which brought ten runs on the board and held against three more homeruns from the maple leafs. Both stand now at 2-1. The team from Northern America though has the best shot because of the fact that they still have two games left against the – on paper – lighter hitting Europeans. Next one for them is host Chinese Taipei.
Spain finally found a way to get a positive result, narrowly beating South Africa. On Monday it should be difficult for a repeat, while facing the South Korean team. The African representative meets with the other European country at the Qualifier.