Ukraine right fielder Anna Marko bats in the third inning of her team's game this morning versus the Lady Panthers.

2 TEAMS UNBEATEN AS POOL PLAY ENDS; BRACKET PLAY STARTS SATURDAY MORNING
2005-11-25

Two teams from Florida are the class of the III Jr. Girls’ WORLD CUP (16-and-under) thus far as pool play concluded today. The event, which continues tomorrow and ends on Sunday, is taking place in Plant City Stadium and the adjacent Randy L. Larson Softball Fourplex at the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) world headquarters in Plant City, Florida. Twenty teams from five countries (Canada, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain, Ukraine, and USA) are competing in the event, which takes place every other year.

The Auburndale (Florida) Maniacs and Team FLA (Palm Harbor, Florida) are both 5-0 (won-lost) as the tournament heads into bracket play beginning tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. All games are free and open to the public.

The Maniacs won twice today. This morning they edged the Xtreme of Georgia (Riverdale), 2-1, in a game in which they were one out away from losing, 1-0. Janine Richardson, who’d singled to start off the bottom of the seventh inning and was then sacrificed to second base, scored on a single by Kendall Arnold to tie the game. Two batters later Brianne Farmer brought home Arnold for the win. The Maniacs later shut out the Canadian Northern Ice (Manitoba), 5-0. In that game Richardson went 3-for-4 at the plate, scored two runs, and stole one base.

The Northern Ice had another game immediately following the loss to the Maniacs. The Canadians fell to the tournament’s local entry, Team Pride (Plant City), 7-5. The game was tied at two after three innings. The Pride sent eight batters to the plate in a three-run fifth inning, only to see the Ice come right back with three of their own in the top of the sixth to tie it. But, in the seventh inning, Kristen Jones hit a two-run home run for what would prove to be the winning runs. The Ice got two baserunners in the bottom of the seventh after there were two outs, but couldn’t bring either one home.

The Pride had earlier today beaten Great Britain, 4-2. Cari Curfman had three runs batted in (RBI) and Erika Wetherington struck out nine Great Britain batters. Team Pride heads into bracket play with a 3-2 record, because they finished out the night with a 2-1 loss to the Xtreme of Georgia. The Pride had gotten on the board first, with Megan Colbert scoring in the second inning. But, Georgia tied it in the fifth, and then after their pitcher, Stephanie Morris, struck out the side in the top of the seventh, Kim Stercay singled home Cristina Mullins in the bottom of the seventh to win it.

The Xtreme had come into that game fresh off a 7-0 win over Great Britain. Lynleigh Hurndon led the offensive charge, going 3-for-4 and scoring her team’s first run in a three-run first inning. The winners added a single tally in the third and three more in the fourth. Great Britain had a baserunner in four of the five innings, but couldn’t bring anyone across home plate. (The game was stopped due to the international run rule, under which if a team is ahead by 20 runs after three innings, 15 after four, or seven after five, the game is considered complete.)

Team FLA got to a 5-0 record by winning three times today. First they beat the Winnipeg Lightning (Manitoba, Canada), 7-0, on the strength of a four-run first inning and a combined two-hitter by Kelsi Dunne and Kat Gladding. Right after that game Team FLA came from behind to defeat the Suncoast Outlaws (Brooksville, Florida), 4-2. The Outlaws scored twice in the top of the second, and Team FLA got one run back in the bottom of the same inning. But, their bats fell silent for the next three innings until a three-run sixth inning sparked by doubles from Kristen LeFan and Jessica Mouse. Dunne struck out the side in the top of the seventh. Team FLA’s other win came against the Alabama Rockets, 5-0. The locals got a four-run second inning and a 12-strikeout performance from pitcher Kelly Confer. In two different innings the three Alabama outs were by strikeout.

Play within Pool A on Friday had started with the Diamond Dusters (Pembroke Pines, Florida) defeating the Suncoast Outlaws, 7-2. The big performers for the Dusters were pitcher Audrey Broyles, who struck out nine Outlaw batters and hit two of her team’s four home runs, and third baseplayer Laura Fountain, who went 4-for-4 at the plate and scored two runs. The Outlaws bounced back later in the day, thumping the Winnipeg Lightning, 7-1. Jessica Dyck had doubled in Loriisa Klopak in the top of the first inning to give Winnipeg an early lead, but the Outlaws responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back, increasing their lead with a run in the fourth and four more after the first two batters had been retired in the sixth. Winnipeg gave up seven runs for the third time in as many games when they closed out the evening with a shutout loss at the hands of the Diamond Dusters. Despite six hits over five innings, the Lightning couldn’t dent the run column, while the Dusters scored at least once in each of their four innings (four runs in the second). Three players had two hits apiece for the winners.

Chinese Taipei was a three-time winner today in Pool B games. The 2003 & 2001 Jr. Girls’ WORLD CUP silver medalists began the morning with a 5-0 victory over the Davie Power Black (Davie, Florida). The winners got started with a three-run first inning and got two more in the fifth. Three different Taipei players went 2-for-3 at the plate. A few hours later they defeated the Seminole Warriors (Longwood, Florida), 7-2. After Seminole’s first batter of the game walked and later scored, Chinese Taipei came back with three runs in the bottom of the second inning, when they sent eight batters to the plate. Designated player Yu Lin was the offensive leader, going 3-for-4 and scoring a run. Chinese Taipei capped off their perfect day with a 5-0 triumph over the Emerald Coast Comets (Destin, Florida). The teams were scoreless after three innings, but in the top of the fourth, Chieh Min Chang hit an RBI double, followed by a two-run home run by Yi Ting Yang. Centerfielder Hsuan Yu hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth as well.

The Comets had lost earlier in the day, 4-3 in eight innings, to the Twilight Twisters (Winter Haven, Florida). The Twisters had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning, all on one swing of the bat by left fielder Kara Watson. But, the Comets tied it up in the bottom of the fourth. Neither team would score again until Brittany Hughes drove in Watson in the top of the eighth. Emerald Coast’s three batters went down in succession in the bottom half of the inning.

The Twisters later posted another one-run victory, shutting out the Davie Power Black. Third baseplayer Brittany Anderson scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the fifth inning and the Power Black were held to just three hits, including just one over the game’s final five innings. Davie closed out the night with a 3-2 win over the Warriors. Three runs on four hits in the first inning proved to be all Davie would need to hold off Seminole, who got single tallies in the fourth and sixth innings, but went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

Over in Pool D, the Shamrocks (Fairfax, Virginia) were three-time victors today. They began the morning with a 1-0 win over the Tampa (Florida) Mustangs, with both teams getting just two hits apiece. Reba Tutt scored the game’s lone run in the bottom of the first inning and Caitlin de la Haba and Megan Elliott combined to strike out nine Tampa batters. A few hours later the Shamrocks drubbed the Jacksonville (Florida) Thunderbolts, 12-0. That game was halted after five innings due to the international run rule. Left fielder Karla Powell led the offensive outburst, going 3-for-4 and scoring two runs. Four of her teammates had two hits each. Jacksonville recorded just two hits, both by Jessica Moreland. Three was a charm for the Shamrocks when they later topped the Ukraine, 15-0. The four-inning game (run rule) saw the Shamrocks pitchers combine on a ten-strikeout no-hitter.

The Ukraine had earlier dropped an 11-1 decision (see photo at top) to the Lady Panthers (Lakeland, Florida) in a game that saw the Panthers score nine times in the first inning while sending 13 batters to the plate. Ellisa Wolfe went 2-for-3 and scored a run. The winners didn’t have much offense left though and later fell to Tampa, 10-3. The fourth was the big inning for the Mustangs, scoring seven times on five hits, two walks, and two errors. Megan Fenzau and Kristen Martin each had two hits in the win.

Below are the final pool play standings, with teams listed in order of where their won-lost record and/or applied tiebreaker(s) left them. (Click here to see bracket play schedule, derived from final pool play seedings. It might be necessary to click the "Brackets" tab at the bottom of the page that will open.)