CANADA PITCHER THROWS PERFECT GAME – WUSC DAY 2

(Pictured above, Canada pitcher Sarah Belanger throws one of the pitches that were part of her perfect game today against Guatemala.)

The 1st World University Softball Championship, taking place at the world headquarters complex of the International Softball Federation (ISF) in Plant City, Florida, continued with eight more games today. The event, which runs through and including Sunday, includes a team from each of the following eight countries: Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Guatemala, Japan, the Netherlands, and USA. Participants – who were required to have been between the ages of 17- 28 and not been out of university or its equivalent for more than a year – include, among others, some athletes that competed in the 2004 Olympic Softball competition, as well as some Olympic alternates, and NCAA Women’s College World Series champions.

Today’s action began with a duel between Canada and China in Plant City Stadium. Shortstop Noémie Marin, an alternate for Canada’s 2004 Olympic Softball team, scored the game’s first – and winning – run in the bottom of the second inning as the red and white upped their record to 2-1 with an eventual 4- 0 win. The team broke the game open in the fifth inning when they sent ten batters to the plate against China pitcher Lixia Zhang, a participant in the Games in Athens. Canada’s Katie Rosentreter pitched a complete game and surrendered only one hit, a single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

On an adjacent field, two winless teams were going at it, with Japan breaking a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth and scoring three more times in the seventh to defeat the Netherlands, 4-0. Japanese pitcher Mariko Goto threw a complete game two-hitter. Judith Van Kampen, who came on in relief of starter Sandra Baart in the fourth inning, took the loss.

In the next set of games (at 12 Noon), Chinese Taipei improved their unbeaten record to 3-0 with a 17-0, four inning, “run rule” win over Guatemala. Chiu- Ching Li, another participant from the Olympic Softball competition in August, went 4-for-4 with an RBI and four runs scored.

Meanwhile, the university teams from the two countries that faced each other for the gold medal in Athens squared off in this week’s event, with the USA holding on for a 2-1 win today. They led 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Australia cut the lead in half and loaded the bases before Alicia Hollowell came on in relief of Kami Keiter and got the final outs for the win. Third baseman Vicky Galindo scored both runs for the U.S. (see photo below).

The afternoon moved on and Canada’s Sarah Belanger, an incoming freshman at Florida International University (in Miami), pitched a perfect game as her team improved to 3-1 with a four-and-a-half inning 10-0 “run rule” win over Guatemala. The offense was highlighted by a third inning inside-the-park three- run home run by left fielder Katy Van deVeire. Belanger struck out eight of the 15 batters she faced.

Over in Plant City Stadium, the USA and the Netherlands were locked in a duel in each team’s second game of the day. The teams went scoreless through the first four innings before USA shortstop Jodi Legaspi led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run. The next batter, centerfielder Catalina Morris, came up and singled. She would later score – after a stolen base – on a sacrifice fly by catcher Andrea Duran for the game’s only other run. The 2-0 win improved USA’s record to 3-1 while the Netherlands dropped to 0-4, although their average margin of defeat has been just over two runs per game.

Australia and Chinese Taipei took center stage in the only 5:00 game today, with the teams coming in with a combined won-lost record of 5-1. Jocelyn McCallum, who pitched for the Aussies exactly one year ago in Nanjing, China at the VII ISF Jr. Women’s World Championship (19-and-under), went head-to-head with Chinese Taipei’s Su-Hua Lin, a 2004 Olympian. The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when three Chinese Taipei errors, coupled with singles from Sarah Croxford and Lauren Daykin, enabled Australia to take a 2-0 lead. Another error in the next inning and a stolen base by Leah Quackenbush helped push the lead to 3-0. Chinese Taipei came right back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Aimee Murch, who’d come on in relief of McCallum in the fourth, retired the final six batters over the next two innings to preserve the 3-2 win

The night ended with a China vs. Japan matchup that would see Japan get two runs on three hits in the second inning en route to a 6-0 victory that left both teams at 2-2. Shortstop Kaori Sakai hit a two-run double in the second inning and scored a run in the sixth.

*** Standings After Day 2 ***

USA, 3-1 (8 Runs For, 4 Runs Against)
Australia, 3-1 (16 RF, 4 RA)
Chinese Taipei, 3-1 (27 RF, 6 RA)
Canada, 3-1 (20 RF, 8 RA)
Japan, 2-2 (13 RF, 7 RA)
China, 2-2 (12 RF, 14 RA)
Netherlands, 0-4 (2 RF, 11 RA)
Guatemala, 0-4 (2 RF, 46 RA)

Daily Round-ups
Event Website
Head-to-Head Results from Round Robin Play
View Event Photos