The three European teams suffered losses at the Women’s Softball World Championship in Caracas, Venezuela on Monday. With one game day remaining in the preliminary round only the Dutch team has a shot at the playoffs, as they will advance definitely if Taiwan beats Cuba or they’re defeating Canada. If they lose and Cuba wins, they could end in a three-way tie.
Great Britain closes out the first round with a match against Argentina, hoping to snap a five-game losing streak. The Czech Republic has to take on the undefeated Team USA. Olympic champion Japan is the second team in the tournament with a perfect record. The playoffs start on Wednesday and continue until the gold medal game on Friday.
Results June 28:
Taiwan – Netherlands 6-3
NED 000 201 0 3 3 0 TPE 010 320 X 6 14 1
Taiwan out-hit the Netherlands 14-3 in a 6-3 win, as both team now are tied with 4-2 records in the Group A standings. Taiwan took a 4-2 lead thanks to three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Nathalie Gosewehr (1-2) scored twice for the Dutch squad. Saskia Kosterink and Areke Spel had the other two hits. Chung Hui Lin went the distance for the win. Lindsey Meadows pitched four innings to take the loss.
China – Czech Republic 8-1 (6)
CZE 000 010 1 7 4 CHN 110 303 8 11 1
China defeated the Czech Republic 8-1 in six innings, as they put three runs on the board in the fourth and the sixth. Katerina Dvorakova scored the lone Czech run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single by Eva Rendovla. Zhou Yin and Yuan Wang scored twice for China. Jana Vacikova took the loss.
Japan – Great Britain 7-0 (6)
GBR 000 000 0 1 3 JPN 400 003 7 8 0
Olympic champion Japan celebrated a one-hit 7-0 shutout in six innings over Great Britain. Only two British players reached base, Natalie Lemland with a single and Kirsten Whitt with a walk. Misato Kawano and Ayumi Karino scored twice for Japan. Sayuri Yamane struck out eight and retired 18 of the 20 batters she faced. Stacie Townsend allowed four runs in the opening frame to take the loss. Naomi Jones closed it out for Team GB.
Other results:
Cuba – Argentina 5-0
Australia – New Zealand 10-0
USA – Dominican Republic 10-1
Canada – South Africa 12-0
Venezuela – Botswana 10-0
Standings:
Group A:
- Japan 6-0
- Canada 5-1
- Taiwan 4-2
- Netherlands 4-2
- Cuba 3-3
- Great Britain 1-5
- Argentina 1-5
- South Africa 0-6
Group B:
- USA 6-0
- Venezuela 5-1
- China 4-2
- Australia 4-2
- Czech Republic 3-3
- Dominican Republic 1-5
- New Zealand 1-5
- Botswana 0-6