Thursday will be a critical day at the WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup opening round, with a fierce battle for the second place. Chinese Taipei opened with three wins in a row and, at the halfway point of the tournament, looks like the team to beat. The first two games will see Great Britain on the field, facing Chinese Taipei in the first game of the day and Colombia (0-2) in the second match. The South Americans will also play the third match, against Czechia (1-1). At the end of the day, New Zealand (1-1) and Brazil (1-2) will take the field at Mie Nishi Stadium for Game 11. All the games of the tournament are available on the WBSC streaming platform GameTime.
<p><a href="https://gametime.sport/events/offers/"><img src="https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/shares/U18WSWC_A_Button.png" alt="WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup Group A - GameTime" width="100%" height="auto"></a></p>
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Chinese Taipei earned their fourth win of the tournament defeating Great Britain, 10-0, in four innings and secured their spot in Saturday's playoffs. It was the third go-ahead-rule win in a row for Chinese Taipei, which is one step closer to clinch one of the top two spots in the Opening Round
Wei-Chi Lin went 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while Yu-Ling Wu finished 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs to lead the Asian line up. Clean-up hitter Jia-Jhen Cheng collected two RBIs and leads the tournament with nine in four games.
Yi-Ting Chou earned the win after pitching 1.1 innings, giving up one hit while striking out one, and lowered her ERA to 0.84 in the tournament. She is second in this department.
Chinese Taipei remain as the leader of the competition with a perfect 4-0 record. The have outscored their opponents 44-7 in their first four games.
The second game of the day, starting at 1pm, will see Great Britain going head to head against Colombia. It might be the last opportunity for the South Americas to remain in contention for a spot in the Playoffs. They have played only once in the history of the tournament in Oklahoma City, in 2015. Great Britain beat Colombia 8-1 in five innings.
At 4pm, Colombia will take the field again to play Czechia, which suffered yesterday their first loss of the tournament. A win for the European champions would allow them to stay in the race for one of the top two spots in the Opening Round standings. Both teams played for the last time in 2021 in Lima, when Czechia defeated Colombia, 10-5.
Brazil and New Zealand will close the day at 7pm in a very interesting match, with both teams in need for a victory. The Junior Black Sox had a solid offensive performance yesterday against Czechia, but with a total of nine errors in two games, they need to perform better in defence. Brazil lost their two games on Wednesday and need to bounce back. They played each other for the last time on 13 August 2019 in Irvine, USA, with New Zealand claiming a 3-2 victory over Brazil.
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 |
| 2 |  |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 2 |
| 2 |  |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 2 |
| 4 |  |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 2.5 |
| 4 |  |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 2.5 |
| 6 |  |
| 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 3 |
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Bottom 4th - With a runner on first, Wei-Chi Lin hit a walk-off triple to the left field corner and the game is over. Chinese Taipei win 10-0 in four innings.
Bottom 3rd - Chinese Taipei add two more in the third inning, on a passed ball and a sac bunt. They lead now 9-0.
Bottom 2nd - Another big inning for Chinese Taipei. A bases loaded two-run single by Yu-Ling Wu and a two-RBI single by JiaJhen Cheng allowed their team to score four and get a 7-0 lead.
Bottom 1st - Chinese Taipei get a three run lead, highlighted by a two-run inside the park home run by right fielder Yu-Hsin Chiu. The Asians take an early 3-0 lead.
Starting pitchers - Elena Clark-Wilson (GBR) - Yi-Ting Chou (TPE)
Preview - Chinese Taipei will try to keep their winning streak alive when they face Great Britain at 10am (all local times). Both teams had a triumphant day yesterday, with the Asians sweeping their doubleheader and the British walking off Brazil. This is the first time both teams will play in a U-18 Women's Softball World Cup.
