CHINESE TAIPEI HEADS TO WUSC PLAYOFFS AS #1 SEED

(Above: Chinese Taipei’s Chiu-Ching Li, taking a swing in Friday morning’s game against China, played at the 2004 Olympics in Greece.)

Round robin play wrapped up Friday morning at the 1st World University Softball Championship in Plant City, Florida. The four games ended the portion of the event that began on Tuesday afternoon, and moved on to two games this evening between the 7th and 8th place finishers and the 5th and 6th place finishers in the eight-team tournament. Three of those four will all play again in tomorrow’s first two games before the top four finishers begin playoffs that will culminate with medal games on Sunday. All games on Saturday and Sunday will be played in Plant City Stadium.

Chinese Taipei and USA entered today’s final round robin games tied for first place with identical 5-1 won-lost records, with Taipei holding the tiebreaker by having beaten the U.S. (3-2) in their head-to-head matchup on Tuesday night. All Chinese Taipei had to do today to maintain their number one seed was to beat back a challenge from China, while knowing that the U.S. was on an adjacent field taking on winless Guatemala.

Chinese Taipei got right to work on the task at hand, with left fielder Hui-Wen Huang beginning the bottom of the second inning with a double, then being moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Meng-Ting Lai, followed by a sacrifice fly to left field by second baseman Tzu-Hui Pan that scored Huang with what would be the eventual game-winning run. Eight batters came to the plate in the bottom of the next inning and when it was through, Chinese Taipei had a 3-0 cushion that would stay that way for the rest of the game, leaving China in sixth place with a 2-5 record. Chinese Taipei will play USA on Saturday night at 8:00.

The U.S., meanwhile, entered their game today having scored 13 runs through their first six games, but exploded for almost the same amount in one outing, downing Guatemala, 12-0. All of USA’s runs came in the first inning, when they sent 16 batters to the plate. Andrea Duran, Sara Dean, and Heather Scaglione each had two RBI and two runs scored in that inning, with Dean having reached base both times on extra base hits (triple then double). Winning pitcher Kami Keiter combined with Amy Harre on a perfect game in an “international run rule”- shortened four-and-a-half inning game. (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.)

The game that carried the most weight was the one going on between Australia and Japan. The Aussies entered the game as the fourth seed at 4-2, while Japan sat in fifth place at 3-3. With head-to-head being the first tiebreaker, the matchup meant that whoever won would finish as the fourth seed, and thus qualify for tomorrow night’s playoffs.

Fittingly, the result was the World University Softball Championship’s second extra innings game, with Japan needing nine innings to win, 1-0, leaving Australia to play only for pride. Pitchers Jocelyn McCallum and Mariko Goto dueled until left fielder Saori Shirai drove in Yuki Takeno who – via the international tiebreaker rule – had been placed as a runner on second base to start the bottom of the ninth inning. Takeno had advanced to third when Yukiko Fujisaki led off with a sacrifice bunt. Australia was held hitless throughout the game.

Canada finished round robin play as the third seed and will face Japan tomorrow night at 6:00 thanks to a 3-0 win on Friday against the Netherlands. With a final round robin record of 5-2, Canada moves on to Saturday with confidence, having beaten Japan, 5-3, in round robin play, and having won three of their five round robin games by shutout, thanks to today’s victory against the Dutch. Shortstop Noémie Marin, a 2004 Canadian Olympic Softball team alternate, tripled home Erin Gee who’d singled, and two batters later, centerfielder Janiva Willis doubled home Marin, for a 2-0 Canada lead after one inning of play. Katy Van deVeire led off the bottom of the second and would score the game’s third and final run to complement the pitching of Sarah Belanger and Megan MacKenzie.

The two evening games matched Australia (5th place) against China (6th place), and the Netherlands (7th place) versus Guatemala (8th place).

The latter two teams took to the field in Plant City Stadium first, 30 hours after having met in round robin play. The Netherlands had won yesterday, 9-0, and tonight’s game was almost the same result with the score this time being 8- 0. Guatemala, as a result, is done, while the Netherlands will play at least one more game. Tonight’s game, under the international “run ahead rule” was a five-inning affair, with the Netherlands starting early, scoring three times in the first inning, highlighted by a Sandra Gouverneur triple and Jolanda Kroesen double. After going three-and-out in the second, the winners tallied three more times in the third and twice more in the fourth.

Australia closed out the night with a 3-2, 8-inning win over China. On the backs of two stolen bases, a hit batsman, and an error, China jumped out to a 2- 0 lead in the top of the second inning. In the bottom of the fourth, however, Australia got two runs off of Chinese Olympic pitcher Lixia Zhang, with the game remaining tied until the first extra inning. After China could not convert its chances in the top of the eighth, Aussie third baseman Amanda Smith – with two outs on the board – singled home Kate Quigley, who started the inning on second base in accordance with the international tiebreaker rule. Australia had also beaten China by one run (1-0) in round robin play yesterday morning.

In addition to Saturday night’s playoff games mentioned above, tomorrow the Netherlands will take on China at 1:00 p.m. The winner will play Australia at 3:00 p.m.

*** Final Round Robin Standings ***

Chinese Taipei, 6-1 (46 Runs For, 14 Runs Against)
USA, 6-1 (25 RF, 4 RA)
Canada, 5-2 (24 RF, 10 RA)
Japan, 4-3 (24 RF, 9 RA)
Australia, 4-3 (17 RF, 6 RA)
China, 2-5 (12 RF, 21 RA)
Netherlands, 1-6 (18 RF, 28 RA)
Guatemala, 0-7 (2 RF, 76 RA)

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