CLOSE GAMES OPEN III JR. GIRLS’ WORLD CUP
2005-11-23

It’s fitting that with tomorrow being Thanksgiving Day in the United States, it was feast or famine for the teams that started off the games of the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) III Jr. Girls’ WORLD CUP. Three of the day’s first five games were decided by just one run, while the other two were loaded with offense.

Despite the holiday in the host country, games continue tomorrow followed by a solidarity dinner for all the teams from all the participating countries, with a traditional Thanksgiving meal from a local catering company. A total of 20 teams representing five different countries (Canada, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain, Ukraine, and USA) are playing in the event at the ISF’s world headquarters complex in Plant City, Florida. The tournament ends Sunday (November 27).

All games are free and open to the public. (The dinner is not open to the public).

Chinese Taipei, who finished second at each of the previous two Jr. Girls’ WORLD CUPs (2003 & 2001), began the tournament in dramatic fashion. They took a 1-0 lead into the top of the seventh inning and got the first batter out, only to see the (Madison) Alabama Rockets tie the score to force extra innings. Chinese Taipei gained the upper hand back by getting back-to-back singles that scored the runner who started the top of the eighth on second base thanks to the international tiebreaker rule, but Alabama brought their runner home in the bottom half of the inning as well to send the game to the ninth inning tied at two. The Asians ran out of gas at that point, going three-up, three-down in the top of the ninth, and Alabama's Melissa Sharp scored in the bottom of the ninth with one out to give the Rockets the 3-2 win.

Meanwhile, in another nailbiter, the Canadian Northern Ice (Winnipeg, Manitoba) got a run in the top of the seventh inning to edge the Emerald Coast Comets (Destin, Florida), 4-3. The Northern Ice had scored twice in the top of the second, only to see the Comets send all nine batters to the plate in a three-run third inning highlighted by a triple off the bat of Maria Dodge. The lead didn’t last long however, with the Northern Ice tying the game at three in the top of the fourth. That’s the way the game stayed until the top of the seventh when right fielder Jessica Klassen opened the inning with a double and went on to score what would prove to be the winning run.

A local team, the Tampa Mustangs, came away from Day 1 empty, dropping a 1-0 decision in eight innings to the Winnipeg Lightning. The Mustangs managed just one hit, a seventh inning single by Rebecca Vyzas, while Winnipeg outfielder Mindie Morrow scored what would be the game’s only run in the top of the eighth and the Lightning defense retired Tampa’s three batters in the bottom half of the inning to solidify the win.

On an adjacent field, the Jacksonville Thunderbolts were giving Great Britain all they could handle. The team from northeast Florida came out of the gate with three runs in the top of the first inning – the first five batters got base hits – and scored another in the second and three more in the fourth en route to a 7-0 triumph over G.B. The first eleven British batters in a row were retired before Jackie Mottl walked in the fourth inning, followed by a Stacie Townsend single that would be her team’s only hit.

The other game in the first batch of five that started off play saw the Suncoast Outlaws (Brooksville, Florida) topple the Lady Panthers (Lakeland, Florida), 9-0. The first four Outlaws batters of the game reached base and scored and they got three more runs in the top of the second inning, including a home run by Alexandra Gaffney.

The teams paused for Opening Ceremonies at 6:00. The festivities saw a procession of all 20 teams – including the five country flags – into Plant City Stadium, followed by the entrance of the tournament umpires. Taryn Livingston, a vocal music performance major at nearby University of South Florida, sang the U.S. national anthem, followed by a welcome speech from ISF Director of Competition Laurie Gouthro.

Play resumed with five more games at 7 p.m.

The Diamond Dusters (Pembroke Pines, Florida) certainly had their hitting shoes on, hanging a 12-1 decision on the Ukraine. Leading 4-1, the Dusters had a seven-run fourth inning to break the game wide open, with 12 batters going to the plate before it was over. The Ukraine didn’t manage a hit in the bottom of the fourth or fifth innings, with the game then being called due to the international run rule (a game is called if a team is ahead by 20 runs after three innings, 15 after four, or seven after five). For the winners, Ashley Frost went 1-for-2 and walked twice and scored three runs, Laura Fountain went 3-for-4 (including a double) with two runs scored, and Alicia Sisco went 3-for-4 with one run scored.

The tournament’s hometown entry, Team Pride (from Plant City), got off to a big start, shutting out the Twilight Twisters (Winter Haven, Florida), 7-0. The winners got the only run they’d need in the bottom of the first inning when Kristen Jones doubled home Abbi Collins, who’d walked and stole second base. The Pride added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, then got one run in the fifth and two in the sixth, after which the game was called due to the run rule.

The 2003 Jr. Girls’ WORLD CUP bronze medalists Team FLA, from the nearby city of Palm Harbor, won their first game, 2-0, over the Shamrocks (Fairfax, Virginia). In Plant City Stadium, Jessica Mouse hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning that also scored Alyssa Allbritten for the game’s lone scores.

Over on the Randy L. Larson Softball Fourplex, the Xtreme of Georgia (Riverdale) were beating the Davie Power Black (Florida), 6-1. The Black scored their only run in the top of the first inning, then saw the Xtreme get base hits from the first three batters in the bottom of the second inning en route to two runs, which they’d also get in each of the fourth and fifth innings. For the victors, Whitney Phillips went 3-for-3 and scored two runs and Chrissy O’Neal went 3-for-4 and scored one run.

In the other Day 1 night game, the Auburndale (Florida) Maniacs crushed the Seminole Warriors (Longwood, Florida), 13-0. The game, called early due to the international run rule, featured a seven-run fourth inning by the Maniacs.