Having previously reported on the unfortunate shooting which marred the early stages of the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Venezuela, I am happy to report the event finished without further incident. Which, naturally, meant the competition was almost completely ignored by the media here. Japan beat Australia in the gold-medal game yesterday, beating them 13-3 in a game ended by the mercy rule after five innings.
Japan Wins Women’s World Baseball Cup
The US squad made it through the pool stages, their only loss being to the Japanese, but struggled in the medal round, winning two of their five games. As well as another defeat to Japan, Team USA were beaten by hosts Venezuela, and suffered an embarrassing mercy-rule loss to Australia by the hefty margin of 19-6. The 2-3 record just qualified them for the semi-finals thanks to a tie-breaker over Canada.
Another defeat to Japan followed, sending the US to a bronze-medal rematch against Venezuela. America redeemed themselves, taking advantage of three errors by the home team in the top of the first to score four, and cruised to victory by a final margin of 15-6, matching their result in the 2008 World Cup. SS Jenna Marston and OF Tamara Holmes were named to the tournament All-Star team - Holmes led all batters with three HR and 22 bases.
The Australians had inflicted Japan’s only defeat, beating them 10-9 during the medal round, but were unable to do it again during the gold-medal game, in front of a crowd of 6,350. The reigning champions scored nine in the first, taking advantage of early wildness by Australian starter Laura Neads, who retired only two of ten batters faced, and never looked back. 3B Ayako Rokkaku was named tournament MVP, going 9-for-14 with nine walks.
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