World No. 17 China beat No. 2 Puerto Rico, 4-1 in eight innigs. They both finished the Placement Round with a 2-1 record.
The game developed as a pitching duel into the sixth inning. Yinan Chai pitched 5.1 innings, Yuchen Wei got the final two outs of the sixth. Gianna Mancha started for Puerto Rico. She allowed one run on six hits over five innings of work. Aleshia Ocasio pitched two perfect innings to take the game through seven innings.
Puerto Rico had a scoring chance in the bottom of the seventh. Yinan Chai walked Alanah Rivera to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Jena Pratte bunted for the hit and brought her to second base. Thanks to three consecutive lineouts, Chai got out of trouble, and the game went to extra innings.
With the score tied at one, China scored the winning runs in the top of the eighth. Siyu Yan grounded out to third base, bringing the tie-break runner Hiaoyan He to third. She scored on Yue Xie's single to the centre. Min Ren looked at a strike, then crushed Ocasio's second pitch to the corned in right field for an RBI triple. Kailin Xi made it 4-1 with a single through the right side.
Chai worked a quick bottom of the eighth and earned the win.
