THURSDAY UNIVERSITY GAMES
ISF/FISU World University Games, Plant City FL
Australia 1, China 0
USA 2, Canada 0
Japan 9, Guatemala 0 (5)
Chinese Taipei 14, Netherlands 7
USA 3, China 0
Canada 1, Australia 0
Chinese Taipei 2, Japan 1 (8)
Netherlands 9, Guatemala 0
AUSTRALIA 1, CHINA 0
Jocelyn McCallum pitched 5+ innings; Aimee Murch closed. Australia had 4 hits, China 2. Ursula Lundberg reached on a dropped third strike. She was advanced on a sacrifice by Stacey Ritter. Lauren Daykin drove in the run with a single. Assistant coach Michelle Nancarrow credited strong defense, including plays by shortstop Kate Quigley.
USA 2, CANADA 0
Pitcher Alicia Hollowell told SPY she got some tips from Ken Ericksen, the assistant coach on the USA Olympic team before the start of the tournament – little changes in technique which Hollowell said “made a world of difference.”
Hollowell turned in one of the best performances of this or any international tournament – striking out 17 batters, including the final four, while giving up just two hits.
The USA scored both runs in the 2nd. Sara Dean walked, and scored on Vicky Galindo’s triple. Heather Scaglione brought Galindo home with an rbi single. Galindo, Kristie Fox, and Andrea Duran also had singles in the game, with Galindo knocking her third hit to open the final inning. Fox followed with her second single. Catalina Morris walked to load the bases with two out, but Megan MacKenzie, pitching in relief of Cathy Andryaszyn, retired Caitlin Benyi on a fly ball to left field,
Amanda Wylie and Kathy Vandeveire hit singles for Canada.
CHINESE TAIPEI 14, NETHERLANDS 7
The Dutch virtually equaled their run output for the tournament in the first inning – scoring six runs (and another in the 4th). Taipei scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st, tied the game with a run in the 2nd, went up by 2 in the 3rd, added 3 runs in the 6th, and tacked on three more runs in the top of the 7th. In a big inning, Taipei scored three runs on a bases-loaded fly which was dropped by the Dutch center fielder. Li Chiu-
Ching led the way for the winners offensively, going 3-for-5 at the plate,
driving in three runs, and scoring one. For the Netherlands, Jolanda Kroesen
went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
USA 3, CHINA 0
Another superior USA pitching performance – this time by lefty Monica Abbott – and a 6th inning bases-loaded triple by Sara Dean, who leads all USA hitters – propelled the USA to a 5-1 standing. The USA plays its final round robin game Friday morning against Guatemala (which has lost all 6 games while scoring just two runs).
The Chinese team which played with iron hands Wednesday night (7 errors) was not the team which allowed only three base runners in the first five innings, none on errors.
Abbott, whose curve was clocked at 63mph then 65mph on the break, struck out 11 while giving up just one hit, a double by Chen, Xi Fang, in the 3rd. At that point, Abbott, who also struck out batters with her changeup and rise, had struck out 6 of the first 7 batters.
Coach Jay Miller continues to shuffle his batting order, trying to increase productivity. Caitlin Benyi, hitting 2-13 coming in, led off with a walk. Norelle Dickson sacrificed her to 2nd. Andrea Duran lined out to short. Dean stroked a single to short right, and Benyi was thrown out trying to score. Jodie Legaspi singled in the 2nd but was stranded.
In the 6th, Morris grounded to 2nd, but Benyi singled to left, and stole 2nd. Dickson walked. Duran hit a bloop msingle over 1st to load the bases. Pitcher Wang Lan, who had hurled 7 innings this morning, had been tantalizing USA batters with a variety of well-located, off-speed pitches. Dean solved her by belting a triple to the fence, clearing the bases. Abbott closed out the side, striking out the final batter.
You think you’ve seen coaches react. After Benyi’s single skipped past Wang Xue at 3rd, the China coach pulled her immediately, inserting Li Yue.
China’s final round robin game is against Chinese Taipei Friday morning.
CANADA 1, AUSTRALIA 0
The Canadians kept themselves in contention, edging Australia on a passed ball. Tamra Howren scored the run. Katie Rosentreter got the win over Catherine Bishop. Aimee Murch relieved after the run scored. Canada plays the Netherlands on Friday, while Australia plays Japan. This game was crucial because Canada had trailed Australia in the standings (see below) and now holds a slight edge, with Australia playing the tougher opponent in the round robin final.
CHINESE TAIPEI 2, JAPAN 1 (8)
The first game to be decided by international tie breaker rules went to Taipei. Both teams showed they know how to defense the tie breaker in which each team starts with a runner on 2nd.
Japan batted with Saori Shirai on 2nd. Yuki Takeno hit into a fiekder’s choice, retiring Shirai at 3rd. Kumi Suzuki grounded to short and Takeno was caught in a rundown. Kaori Sakai worked a 3-2 count before fanning.
The win enabled Taipei to keep its top seed ranking, at 5-1, having won its game with the USA, also 5-1 in the standings (see below).
Chinese Taipei began with Chen, Po-Jung on 2nd. After a walk, Chen, Miao-Yi grounded out to 3rd, forcing the out at 3rd. Li, Chui Ching, the Chineswe Olympian whose rbi single had tied the game earlier, drove in the winning run with a hard-hit single off Japanese pitcher Mariko Goto. Lin, Su-Hua was the winning pitcher.
NETHERLANDS 9, GUATEMALA 0
In a game that would ensure that one team would get its first win of the
tournament, the Netherlands – picking up where they left off from their seven-
run performance in their first game of the day – kept the offense rolling with
a 9-0 win over Guatemala that went five innings due to the “run ahead rule.”
(By international softball rules, a game is considered complete if a team is
winning by 20 runs after three innings, 15 after four, or seven after five.)
After a scoreless first inning, Sandra Gouverneur led off the top of the second
inning for the Netherlands with a triple and would score one of two runs for
the Dutch that half-inning. She had an RBI single and scored another run in a
three-run third inning that saw doubles from both Chantel Versluis and Jolanda
Kroesen. The winners scored once in the fourth and capitalized on wild pitches
in the fifth when they scored their final three runs. (reported by ISF)
*** Standings After Day 3 ***
Chinese Taipei, 5-1 (43 Runs For, 14 Runs Against)
USA, 5-1 (13 RF, 4 RA)
Canada, 4-2 (21 RF, 10 RA)
Australia, 4-2 (17 RF, 5 RA)
Japan, 3-3 (23 RF, 9 RA)
China, 2-4 (12 RF, 18 RA)
Netherlands, 1-5 (18 RF, 25 RA)
Guatemala, 0-6 (2 RF, 64 RA)
end