by International Baseball Federation, www.ibaf.org
The final day of the Medal Contention Round concluded today in Maracay with exciting play and stunning results. The opener saw Canada play Cuba and Canada needing to win to keep their medal round hopes alive. The afternoon session saw Australia take on Team USA, Australia in the same situation as Canada, while Japan and Venezuela fought for top seed honors in the nightcap.
In other action, Chinese Taipei defeated Puerto Rico 16-1 in 5 innings, and South Korea picked up their first win of the tournament against the Netherlands, 15-5.
Cuba Vs Canada 9-10
In a must win situation, Canada came from behind in the bottom of the 7th to defeat Cuba 10 – 9. Cuba scored 5 in the top of the 7th and was all but assured victory, however Canada’s never say die attitude paid dividends leading to 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning and the walk off victory. The winning blow came from 1st baseman Kate Psota, singling up the middle to score the winning run. Stephenson, Asay and Hartley all had multi-hit days for Team Canada, along with Batista and Charon of Team Cuba. The result sees Cuba slide to a record of 0-5 for the Medal Contention Series, while Canada moved to 2-3 and would need Team USA to defeat Australia to advance to the medal round.
Australia Vs USA 19 – 6
Scoring in every inning but 1 of the 6 needed for the result, Australia rampaged into the medal round with a 15 hit, 19 run demolition of Team USA today. The final score of 19-6 is Team USA’s biggest defeat of the tournament to date. With the win by Canada in the morning game, Australia needed to beat Team USA to ensure a place in the next phase of play. Australia had 2 players with 3 hits, (Gaynor and Mcann), and 3 more players with 2 hits (Lillywhite, Mcmillian and Lovering) on the day.
Venezuela Vs Japan 0 – 10
Japan cruised into the position of number 1 seed entering the medal round with a convincing display against Venezuela. Needing only 5 innings to complete the 10 – 0 victory, and in the process give the bullpen a crucial 2 inning break leading into the next phase. The loss was Venezuela’s first of the tournament. Akiko Shimura and Yukiko Kon both had 3 hits, while Japanese starter Ayami Sato held Venezuela to 2 hits with 4 K’s for the complete game shutout victory.
The results leave the final standings of the Medal Contention Round as follows,
- Japan 4-1
- Venezuela 4-1 (second on account of head to head against Japan)
- Australia 3-2
- USA 2-3
- Canada 2-3 (5th on account of head to head against team USA)
- Cuba 0-5
The 4 top seeds compete in the semi finals, and will see Japan take on the USA, and Australia take on Venezuela to determine the gold medal game. Defeated teams will compete Sunday for the bronze medal.