JUNIOR WORLD
WEDNESDAY
Canada
4,
Argentina
1
Japan
2,
Australia
0
United States
20,Thailand 0 (3)
China
7, New Zealand 0
Russia
5, Argentina 4 (8)
Chinese
Taipei
1,
Netherlands 0
Japan
10,
Philippines 2
Australia
2,
New Zealand 0
China
17, Korea 0 (4)
United States
6,
Canada 0
CANADA
4,
ARGENTINA
1
Canada
won its second game in a row, combining the pitching talents of starter
Danielle Lawrie, middle reliever Jordan Keen, and close Megan MacKenzie.
Argentina
finally scored a singleton in the 5th.
Canada
out hit the Argentine 8-3, and committed two errors to five by the Argentine.
JAPAN
2,
AUSTRALIA
0
Japan
used its eye-popping foot speed to capitalize on two Australian efforts, and a
superlative two-hit outing by ace Yuir Kashima, to offset a 10 K performance by
Jocelyn McCallum.
Kashima, who relies heavily on solid defense behind her,
retired the last 14 batters in a row, following a single in the 3rd
by DH Sophie McGilvray (leadoff hitter Stacey Dwyer opened the bottom of the 1st
with the other hit).
McCallum struck out the first 8 batters, mixing curves
around low and high rises. But, the
Japanese changed strategy and in the 4th started attacking the low
rise. With one out, Muri Masuyama
rode a high pitch into left for a single. Haruka
Fujino doubled to right. Masuyama
scored on a passed ball. With a
runner on first (Hitomi Sajida walked with two out),
Australia
attempted a fake pick to lure the runner off 3rd, but the throw back
to 3rd went awry and Fujino scored.
Japan
added another hit off reliever Sharon Bell in the 6th.
Asked why
Australia
changed pitchers, the coaches answer: why not?
They have five pitchers whom they want to see in action.
There were several defensive standouts.
Fujino showed great range and a very strong arm at shortstop.
For
Australia
, Michelle Andrew’s running catch took away a sure double in center but the
highlight reel plays were made in right field by Stacey Dwyer.
With
Australia
down 2-0, Dwyer made two diving catches in the sixth and two more in the 6th.
With
China
looming in the path of both for top seed in the A bracket, this game was
crucial to both teams. Both should
be among the four teams to enter the medal round. End
USA
20,
THAILAND
0 (3)
The
USA
unleashed the most prodigious scoring outburst of the tournament on Wednesday,
routing
Thailand
20-0 in three innings.
Taking advantage of the offspeed and change-up pitches offered by the Thai, the
USA
fired the first salvos of what became a bombardment in the bottom of the 1st
scoring four runs on four hits. Caitlin
Lowe, Norrelle Dickson, and Lisa Dodd hit consecutive singles, Caitlin Benyi
reached on an error, and Desiree Williams doubled, for a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Meagan Denny was having a career day: she struck out all nine
batters.
The
USA
scored 11 runs in the 2nd. Jessica
Gilmore led with a single to left, Lowe singled to center, Dickson tripled, Dodd
doubled, Emily Zaplatosch singled, Benyi doubled, and Williams jacked a 3-run
homer over the left field fence. Holly
Krzan followed with a single but was called off
base. Jaisa Creps tripled,
Gilmore singled, Lowe doubled, Dodd doubled in two runs, and Zaplatosch doubled.
The
USA
achieved the ISF 20-run mercy with five more runs in the 3rd.
Williams led off with a single to right, Krzan and Creps singled to left,
Gilmore reached when her fly ball was dropped in right field, and Jodie Legaspi
drove in two runs with a single to center. Andrea
Duran’s deep fly to right ws also dropped and Dodd closed out the scoring and
the game with an rbi double to center.
Lowe was 3-3 with a double. Dickson
was 2-3 with a triple. Dodd was a
perfect 4-4 with two doubles. Zaplatosch
was 2-3 with a double and sacrifice. Benyi
was 1-3 with a double. Williams was
3-3 with a homer, double, single and five rbi.
Krzan was 2-3. Creps was 2-3
with a triple. Gilmore was also 2-3,
and Legaspi was 1-1.
Thailand
’s Suriwan Disuang started and was relieved in the 2nd after the
first six batters hit safely. Sasithorn
Wilairak came in and promptly gave up the homer to Williams. End
RUSSIA
5,
ARGENTINA
4 (8)
For two innings, following a four-run 3rd inning
in which they took a 4-3 lead, the Argentine were poised on the threshold of
their first victory. But, they
couldn’t hold the lead and
Russia
won its second game,
Argentina
losing its fourth.
The Russians scored on an error in the 1st (one
of three by the Argentines) and took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd., both
runs scoring on a single by Marina Slyunchenko.
The Argentine finally solved
Russia
’s Daria Shembereva in the 3rd.
Romina Chimento drove in two runs with a single, and Florenica Olheiser
drove in the next two with a triple.
Russia
tied the game in the bottom of the 5th on a ground-rule double by
Olessia Gavrilova. The game went to
an 8th inning tie breaker.
Argentina
added a runner through a walk, but both were stranded.
Argentina
had dodged a lot of bullets: a double-play wiped out a threat; the bases were
loaded in the 5th after tying run scored, but an interference call
ended the inning. The Russian 8th
began badly for
Argentina
; the first batter was hit; the second batter hit a bloop which dropped amidst
three infielders; and the bases were loaded.
Radyka Ratsa hit a deep sacrifice fly for the win.
AUSTRALIA
2,
NEW ZEALAND
0
Catherine Bishop pitched the first five innings for the
win, and Tarryn Lambert closed, to improve
Australia
’s record to 3-1 while the Kiwis dropped to 2-2.
JAPAN 10,
PHILIPPINES
2 (6)
The Filipinos made a fight of it, racking six hits off
Japan
’s #2 pitcher, Miyuki Ito, but their two runs came when they were down 5-0 and
Japan
never looked back.
Japan
scored 2 in the 1st, 3 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th,
and 2 to reach the run-rule in the 6th.
The biggest blows were by their 1-2 punch, Sayuri Honda and Yuri Masuyama,
who hit back to back triples.
CHINA
17,
KOREA
0 (4)
China is formidable without help; when you make six errors,
as the Koreans did, while also giving up runs and hits in bunches, you have no
chance – at this level.
Korea scratched out two early hits, but it was a China show
all the way, as they banged out 12 hits, including home runs by Lu Yi (2 runs)
and Lei Donghui (3 runs) which pushed China to the run-rule pinnacle.
China
got strong performances on the mound from Lin Yue’e and Gao Yanmin in relief.
UNITED STATES 6,
CANADA
0
This game followed a very different scenario than the 20-0
romp over
Thailand
earlier in the day. The
USA
finally posted a score in the bottom of the 2nd; with one out,
Andrea Duran singled and scored on Norelle Dickson’s single to center.
The
USA
bid for a second run in the 4th was foiled by Andrea Ground; Emily
Zaplatosch hit a shot that would have cleared the left field fence but Ground
reached over the top of the fence and took away the homer.
Earlier, Lisa Dodd cranked a shot to the left field corner that went just
foul before clearing the 220 foot fence.
Through the top of 5, Monica Abbott struck out 12 of 15
batters.
With one out in the bottom of the 5th, Dickson
slugged a triple to center. Caitlin
Lowe, the leading hitter for the
USA
in this tournament (.875), came through with a grounder that the shortstop
couldn’t handle, Dickson scoring on the error.
Jackie Rinehart, who had sacrificed earlier when Lowe walked to start the
USA
1st, laid down a beautiful short bunt for a hit and the
USA
had two on, one out. Jodie Legaspi
sacrificed the runners up. That
prompted
Canada
to insert a third pitcher, Danielle Lawrie to face Zaplatosch, who jacked a
3-run homer on a 2-2 count over the fence in right center for a 5-0
USA
lead. With two out, Lisa Dodd
singled and Caitlin Benyi doubled for a 6-0 lead.
Canada
broke Abbott’s bid for a no-hitter in the top of the 6th, a double
by Noemie Marin to lead the inning. Abbott
struck out two of the next three batters, running her string to 14.
In the
USA
6th, Dickson reached on an error (I would have scored it an infield
hit) but the last two batters struck out.
Erin McLean opened the Canadian 7th with a
double, which eluded a diving Lowe in center, but she nailed a throw to 3rd
to put
McLean
out. Abbott
struck out Alisia Norowdowski for the third time for the second out.
Abbott then struck out Lawrie for her 16th K to end the game.
STANDINGS AFTER
THREE DAYS
Bracket A
Japan
: WWWW
China
: WWWW
Australia
: WWLW
New Zealand
: WLLL
Czech
Republic
: LLL
Korea
: LLLL
Philippines
: LWL
Bracket B
United States
: WWWW
Chinese
Taipei
: WWWW
Canada
: LWWL
Russia
: WLW
Netherlands
: LWLL
Argentina
: LLLL
Thailand
: LLL
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