 AUSTRIA & GERMANY ARE LATEST TO BE ELIMINATED FROM QUALIFIER
2003-06-27
After Belgium, Botswana, Croatia, and France were eliminated when pool play ended on Thursday, it was only a matter of 24 hours before they’d be joined by two more on the outside looking in.
Today in the preliminary semi-finals, Austria and Germany became those two teams, while the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Spain all moved one step closer to becoming the one that will move on to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Play began today with Russia, 3-2 in pool play, taking on Austria, who’d gone 2-
3. The better record was, in fact, a sign of things to come as Russia
triumphed, 5-1. Pitchers Ekaterina Eronina and Olga Chernakova held the
Austrians to two hits and Eronina struck out ten batters. By the time Austria
got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, Russia already had a 5-0 lead.
Russia’s third baseman, Svetlana Kozhukhova went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove
in two runs.
Spain, 2-3 in pool play, did the opposite of the game above, sinking Germany (3-
2 in pool play), 4-2. Germany struck quickly with two runs in the bottom of
the first, but that would be it after Spain scored twice in each of the top of
the sixth and seventh innings. Germany was hurt by committing three errors,
though they did get a good performance offensively from shortstop Christina
Lipp (3-for-4).
In a nailbiter, Italy squeaked past the Netherlands, 1-0. The game’s only run
came in the top of the fifth inning, with second baseman Sabrina Del Mastio
getting the game-winning RBI. Italy was also bolstered by the combined
pitching efforts of Jennifer Spediacci and Leslie Malerich, who held the
Netherlands to two hits and recorded eight strikeouts. Italy has still yet to
lose this week, having gone 5-0 in pool play. The Netherlands had lost just
once coming into today (4-1).
The day’s final game was another one-run affair, with the Czech Republic
holding off Great Britain, 6-5. The Czechs had gone 5-0 in pool play, with
Great Britain only having lost once. Great Britain took the early 1-0 lead
with a run in the top of the first inning. They then proceeded to fall behind
6-2 after the Czechs scored two runs in each of the bottom of the second,
third, and fourth innings. Despite one run in the top of the sixth, a home run
by third baseman Sarah Lockett, and then two in the top of the seventh, Great
Britain couldn’t push a tying run across the plate to complete a comeback.
The Czechs had chances to put up a bigger lead, but left a game total of ten
runners on base.
Tomorrow begins with Russia against the Netherlands, followed by Spain taking
on Great Britain, then Italy against the Czech Republic. The final game of the
night will pit the winner of the Russia-Netherlands game against the winner of
the Spain-Great Britain game. The winner of that final game will begin play
Sunday against the loser of Saturday’s Italy-Czech Republic game. Saturday’s
Italy-Czech Republic winner will play Sunday’s other game, versus the winner of
the day’s first game, for the right to go to Athens.
Follow the qualifier through the official event website using the link below.
Talk about it in the “Our National Team” and/or “General Discussion” categories
using the ISF Forum link below.
Daily Round-ups
|
