POOL PLAY ENDS AT OLYMPIC QUALIFIER

2003-06-26

To start the fourth day of play at the Africa/Europe region Olympic qualifier, 3-1 met 1-3 today with the Netherlands looking to stay in the thick of things in Pool B. They did exactly that by shutting out Belgium 7-0. Not only was it their second game so far holding their opponent scoreless, but Belgium went hitless as Dutch pitcher Sandra Baart recorded the second perfect game of the tournament. Seven of the 15 outs came by strikeout. The five-inning game saw the winners leading just 1-0 after 3½ innings before breaking out with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the fifth.

Meanwhile, in Cupramontana, Russia (2-2) was taking on Botswana (1-3). After 4½ scoreless innings, Russia got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, only to have Botswana tie it with two of their own in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh though, Anna Momzikova drove in the winning run with two outs. The two teams combined for just six hits. Pitcher Ekaterina Eronina struck out six Botswana batters.

In a repeat of the first of the games that were played in Macerata today, Austria shut out Croatia 7-0 in five innings. Austria scored in the top of each inning except the fourth, and had ten hits, led by pitcher Cornelia Chwojka’s 3-for-3, two RBI performance. The winners improved to 2-3 while Croatia fell to 0-5.

Great Britain beat France in another five-inning game that left a team 0-5. Great Britain, on the other hand, kept their place among the leaders in Pool A, raising their record to 4-1. Their 13-0 win Thursday came courtesy of a ten- run second inning and 4-for-4, three RBI outing from third baseman Charmaine Johns.

The night would close with Italy staying a game up on Great Britain by way of a 5-0 win over Spain. Pitcher Yue-Fen Sun struck out 13 and gave up just two hits in a complete game performance that was supported by outfielders Alessandra Gorla and Marta Gambella hitting a combined 5-for-8 with three RBI.

The Czech Republic kept pace with the tournament hosts by also improving to 5- 0. They beat Germany 8-1 in six innings. The Czechs got a balanced attack, scoring runs in four different innings and getting hits from eight different players.

The schedule gets even thinner tomorrow as only the preliminary semi-final games will take place.

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