USA and Japan advance to World Cup of Softball Championship Game

Post date: Jul 10, 2017 4:0:45 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY — The field has been set for Championship Sunday at the World Cup of Softball XII in Oklahoma City after the final day of round-robin action came to a conclusion. USA finished preliminary play undefeated with the No. 1 seed, while Japan, who lost to USA yesterday, finished with the No. 2 seed as both advance to the Championship game.

Mexico v Puerto Rico

5-2

Mexico jumped out to an early lead over Puerto Rico and took home a 5-2 victory.

In the second inning, Mexico’s Tatyana Forbes drove in two. Mexico extended its lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning on singles by Brigitte Del Ponte and Anissa Urtez.

In the seventh, Puerto Rico would get on the board, scoring Elicia D’Orazio and Marta Fuentes. But that was not enough as Mexico claimed the 5-2 win.

Philippines v Mexico

4-2

Mexico stayed in it until the end, but the Philippines pulled away late for a 4-2 victory.

The Philippines captured the lead in the second inning as Angelie Ursabia singled, scoring one run. But Mexico knotted the game up at two in the bottom of inning by Stefania Aradillas’s sac fly.

The game was still tied at two with Philippines batting in the top of the sixth when Francesca Altomonte homered off of Alyssa Loza, driving in two runs.

Sierra Lange earned the win for Philippines. She tossed seven innings, surrendering two runs, seven hits, and striking out four.

USA v Puerto Rico

8-2

Despite the U.S. bats getting off to a slow start, the team exploded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth in what would become an 8-2 win over Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first.  Elicia D’Orazio crossed home off a single to center field by Morganne Flores.

USA took the lead in the bottom of the second after Kasey Cooper scored on a misplayed ball at the plate and a single brought Morgan Zerkle home to give the U.S. the 2-1 edge.

In the top of the fourth, Puerto Rico tied up the game with a lead-off solo home run from Claudio Diaz.

The score stood still until the bottom of the fifth when another RBI single from Haylie McCleney made it a 3-2 U.S. lead.

The floodgates would open in the bottom of the sixth as the U.S. bats came alive.  With the bases loaded, Valerie Arioto hit a sac fly to right field to score Ali Aguilar.  Delaney Spaulding was then hit by a pitch to load the bases again while Stewart drove a ball to left field to bring the speedy Janie Takeda and Michelle Moultrie home. Another RBI single drove in another two runs to give the U.S. the 8-2 win.

With the win over Puerto Rico, USA earned the No. 1 overall seed and are set for a rematch against No. 2 seed Japan.

Japan v USA Jr National Team (JWNT)

5-0

Japan won a 5-0 shut-out to the USA JWNT in their final round-robin contest.

Japan plated a run in the top of the second off an error while another run in the top of the fourth had Japan up by two runs.

Both sides were then silenced at the plate until Japan added another three runs to their lead.  That score would stand, with the JWNT suffering the 5-0 loss.

With the win over the JWNT, Japan earned the No. 2 overall seed and are set for a rematch against No. 1 seed USA.

Canada v Australia

5-4 (8 innings)

Canada kept rolling with a 5-4 win over Australia in eight innings for its third straight win. With the win, Canada secured third place in the preliminary round and will face Australia once again in the Bronze medal game.

Australia opened the scoring with two runs in the second, after three walks loaded the bases, followed by a RBI ground-out and a RBI single.

Trailing 2-0, Canada scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Australia chipped away at the lead with a run in the top of the sixth after three singles, and added another to tie the game in the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Canada put the winning run at second, but the next batter flew out to send the game to extra innings.

With a runner starting on second in the top of the eighth due to the international tie-breaker rule, the runner advanced to third on a ground-out. The next batter grounded into a fielder’s choice catching the runner heading to home, but ended up retiring the hitter following a pair of rundown plays. A ground-out to the pitcher left Australia off the scoreboard, giving Canada a chance to win the game in the bottom of the frame. Joey Lye started on second, and Erika Polidori laid down a sacrifice bunt with the pitcher and first baseman running into each other, forcing the throw off target at first and allowing Lye to score the winning run.

USA v Australia

10-1

Mother nature made her presence known, but despite the wind and rain, the U.S. cruised to a 10-1 win over Australia.

The Eagles wasted no time at the plate, pushing across two runs in the top of the first before a weather delay halted play for an hour and twenty-minutes.

When play started again, Delaney Spaulding added to USA’s lead in the top of the second with a RBI single.

A wild pitch allowed the fourth U.S. run of the game to score in the top of the fifth inning.  Three more runs in the top of the sixth got the U.S. a seven-run edge over Australia.

Trailing by seven, Stacey Porter kept the game from ending in a run-ahead rule with a first-pitch home run to put the Aussies on the board.

But the U.S. tacked on three more runs in the top of the seventh with a Spaulding three-run shot over the center field fence.

All tournament details for the WBSC-sanctioned World Cup of Softball, including live streaming, can be found here.