AUSTRALIA, CHINA, JAPAN, AND U.S.A. ALL REMAIN UNDEFEATED

SASAKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN – The International Softball Federation’s X Women’s World Championship pushed on through its fourth day today. With a range of scores from 2-0 to 14-0 in the eight games played Monday, there was a little something of everything, including the tournament’s first extra innings affair.

Host Canada opened the day with their first of two contests. In a game rescheduled from Friday night (rain), the Canadians fell to 1-2 with a 5-1 setback at the hands of Chinese Taipei. Canada actually took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. That was their first score since the bottom of the sixth inning in their win Saturday night over Russia (a streak of 13 scoreless innings). The winners scored twice in the fifth and three more times in the sixth.

Next up was defending champion U.S.A. who scored in each of the first four innings, enough to get an abbreviated victory (41⁄2 innings) over Russia, 14-0. The ISF’s “mercy rule” provides for a game to be called (official) if a team is leading by 20 runs after three innings, 15 after four, or seven after five. Winning pitcher Michelle Smith tossed a no-hitter, coming within one error of a perfect game. Third baseman Nina Lindenberg homered in the second inning to lead the charge.

Action moved on with Australia breaking a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the fifth, en route to a 3-0 shutout of South Africa. Winning pitcher Tanya Harding struck out ten as the winners improved to 4-0. She threw only 79 pitches, 61 of them strikes.

Italy got their first win of the tournament after having lost its first three games by a combined score of 6-0. Their 2-1 triumph was the first game of this World Championship to go extra innings, with designated player Daniela Castellani singling home first baseman Jennifer Spediacci in the bottom of the ninth. The teams were scoreless after seven innings, and scored one run each in the first extra inning.

The rest of the day went as follows:

New Zealand edged Venezuela 2-1, thanks to a complete game, eleven strikeout performance from pitcher Alisha Arnold and a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Japan got the only runs it needed in the bottom of the third inning and shutout the Netherlands, 2-0.

Puerto Rico hung tough in the “B” Pool by going to 3-1 with a solid 8-2 win over South Africa.

The Czech Republic dropped its fourth straight game, being blanked by Canada 7- 0. The winners were 1-1 on the day and are now 2-2 overall. That game too was stopped by the “mercy rule” (after the seventh run crossed the plate in the bottom of the sixth).

The evening ended with a battle of the unbeatens. A 1-0 win in eight innings helped China improve to 4-0 while Chinese Taipei fell to 3-1.

For more details on the games as well as tournament statistics and leaders, go to the event website using the link below and click on Results. A text recap of each game can also be found on that site by clicking on Media Services from the homepage. That website also has the full tournament schedule. Media members and fans are also encouraged to visit this site throughout the World Championship.

The top four teams from this event will qualify to play in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The medal games here are scheduled for Sunday, August 4.

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