Preliminary Round/Pool Play
JPN vs. PUR
SAITO's Three Homers Lead Japan Past Puerto Rico in Softball, 8-1
Haruka SAITO blasted three home runs to lead Japan to an 8-1 victory over Puerto Rico in Olympic softball action Friday morning.
SAITO hit home runs to right field in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Her grand slam in the fourth inning off Puerto Rican reliever Ivelisse ECHEVARRIA made the score 5-0. The slam followed a walk and two bunt singles that allowed Japan to load the bases.
The three home runs gave SAITO four in the overall competition, moving her past China's TAO Hua, who has three round-trippers.
Juri TAKAYAMA picked up her third victory of the competition. The Japanese hurler allowed two hits and struck out four in five innings of work. TAKAYAMA now has gone 19 innings without surrendering a run. Kyoko KOBAYASHI pitched the final two innings in relief to preserve the victory.
Lisa MARTINEZ SHAWVER took the loss for Puerto Rico, working five innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. ECHEVARRIA surrendered five runs on five hits in two innings.
The win keeps Japan (4-2) tied with Australia for third place in round-robin pool play. The top four teams advance to the semifinal round. Japan meets Chinese Taipei (2-3) tomorrow at 21:00 to conclude its pool competition.
Final Score: JPN 8, PUR 1
USA vs. AUS
United States' FERNANDEZ Not Perfect Enough in 2-1 Softball Loss to Australia
Joanne BROWNE broke up Lisa FERNANDEZ's perfect game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead Australia to a 2-1 victory. The defeat was only the second loss for the United States in the last decade.
FERNANDEZ had retired all 29 batters she faced prior to the home run by BROWNE. The U.S. pitcher struck out 15 without walking a batter. The only baserunner prior to BROWNE was Leah RICHARDSON, who was placed on second base as part of international softball tiebreaking rules. This rule states that a runner is put on second base in the 10th inning to speed up the game.
Australian pitcher Tanya HARDING was equally tough on the United States, allowing her only run in the 10th inning. She scattered six hits and struck out six. The only U.S. run also was scored with the help of the extra-inning rule. Dionna HARRIS was placed on second base to start the 10th inning and scored on a Sheila CORNELL single to put the United States ahead 1-0.
The United States thought they had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Danielle TYLER blasted a home run to center field. After TYLER rounded the bases, Australian catcher Joyce LESTER appealed that TYLER had neglected to touch home plate. Home plate umpire Lucie CARMICHAEL agreed and called TYLER out.
Australia (4-2) remained tied with Japan for third place in pool play. The top four teams advance to the semifinal round. Australia's final game in pool play is a must-win game against Canada (3-3) at 9:00 on Saturday. The winner will advance to the semifinal round. The United States dropped to 5-1 and a first-place tie with China. The United States ends pool play with a 18:30 matchup against China Saturday.
Final Score: AUS 2, USA 1
"Between yesterday and today, this was definitely an eye-opener to let everyone in this world know that softball isn't just winner-take-all and the favorite isn't always going to end up on top," said FERNANDEZ. "You have to show up for the games and we didn't show up."
NED vs. CAN
Canada Stays Alive with 4-1 Victory over the Netherlands in Softball.
Four Netherlands errors, allowed Canada to score four runs and stay in medal contention with a 4-1 victory in softball at Golden Park in Columbus.
The Netherlands opened the scoring with a home run by Petra BEEK off Canadian starter Lori SIPPEL. The home run proved to be the only chink in SIPPEL's armor as she allowed only two hits in six innings to pick up the win for Canada.
Trailing 1-0, Canada tallied two runs in the third inning. Alecia STEPHENSON opened the inning with a single off starter Anouk MELS. Colleen THORNBURN reached as she was hit by a MELS pitch. STEPHENSON scored when BEEK made an error on a ball hit by Pauline MAURICE. Canada added the second run when Marjolein DE JONG misplayed a flyball hit by Carmelina VAIRO to make the score 2-1.
MELS was again victimized by poor infield play when BEEK made a second error on a ball hit by MAURICE. The miscue allowed Kelly KELLAND to cross the plate. MELS took the loss, allowing only two hits and walking one. Sonja PANNEN relieved Mels, surrendering one run in 2.1 innings.
The lone run against PANNEN scored as the result of the fourth Netherlands' error. STEPHENSON reached first to lead off the sixth inning on BEEK's third error of the contest. The Canadian shortstop later scored on a single by MAURICE to close the scoring at 4-1.
The win kept Canada's medal hopes alive by improving its record to 3-3. They currently stand in fifth place, one spot out of the semifinals with one day of round robin play remaining. Canada plays a must-win game against Australia at 9:00, 27 July, to determine who advances to the medal round. The loss drops the Netherlands to 0-6, in Olympic competition. Its final game will be a 11:30 matchup with Puerto Rico (1-5).
Final Score: CAN 4 - NED 1
"I think we played well, but we have one more thing to learn," said the Netherlands coach Ruud ELFERS. "We just need to learn to win. We gave today's game away with errors."
CHN vs. TPE
WANG Wins Third Game For China 1-0 in Softball.
WANG Lihong entered in relief for China and worked out of a jam in the second inning and never looked back, leading China to a 1-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in Olympic softball.
WANG. entered with runners on second and third with nobody out in the second inning. The overpowering left-hander worked out of the inning getting LEE Ming-Chieh to groundout. After catcher AN Zhongxin picked off WANG Ya-FEN from thirdbase, WANG ended the inning with a strikeout of LIU Tzu Hsin.
China jumped on the scoreboard first with a solo home run by CHANG Chunfang in the top of the third inning. CHANG entered the day ranked second in hitting with a .437 average.
WANG continued her dominating pitching for China. She retired all 17 batters she faced in the contest. The hurler added to her tournament-leading strikeout total, punching out 10 including a stretch of five in a row in the fourth and fifth innings. WANGearned the win in the contest, upping her record to 3-1 in the competition.
Chinese Taipei got strong pitching from CHIU Chen Ting in relief of TU Hui-Mei. TU lasted only three innings before giving way to CHIU. The starter took the loss surrendering the home run to CHANG. CHIU held China scoreless in the final four frames.
China improves to 5-1 with the victory and ties them with the United States in first-place with one day remaining in round robin competition. The two teams meet tomorrow in the 18:30 game to determine the number one seed in the medal round. Chinese Taipei drops to 2-4 and will finish the Olympic softball competition with a 21:00 game against Japan.
Final Score: CHN 1 - TPE 0
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| The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July). |