Guatemala's ace Jorge Segura pitched a gem today to lift his team over South Africa, 4-0, in Game 1 of the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup Group C on Tuesday at Devon Park - OGE Energy Field. The Central American team homered twice in the game to get their first win of the competition.
Segura was dominant in the outing, pitching the full game and striking out 16 opponents. The veteran right-hander went 5.2 innings with no hits and runs, until Mandla Matswenyane singled to centre field. It resulted to South Africa's only hit of the game. Segura, who used 115 pitches to complete the game, walked three opponents.
From the bottom of the third to the bottom of the fifth, Segura struck out seven consecutive batters. The streak was broken by Kagiso Moeti, who worked a full-count walk.
After two scoreless innings, Guatemala took the lead in the top of the third inning. Fabian Vizcaino was hit by a pitch, and moved to second on a wild pitch. Gerardo Dacaret did not waste any time and hit a single up the middle on the first pitch of the at bat to drive Vizcaino home and give Guatemala the lead, never looking back in the game.
One inning later, Guatemala's centre fielder Manuel Hernandez crushed a rise ball in the outside part of the plate and sent it well over the left field fence for a solo homer, extending his team's advantage to 2-0.
One inning later, Guatemala crossed the plate for the third time in the game. A costly error by South Africa second baseman Mathew Diedericks opened the door to the last run of the game. Diedericks, who made two nice plays in the previous innings, dropped a routine fly ball with two outs, allowing Vizcaino to cross the plate from third.
Tidima Kekana started for South Africa and was charged with the loss. He pitched 4.2 innings and allowed three runs (two of them earned) on five hits, with eight strikeouts and two walks. Kagiso Aphane took the ball and retired the las out of the inning with a grounder to second base.
In the top of the seventh, Vizcaino hit a line-drive home run over the left field fence to make it 4-0. Vizcaino scored three of Guatemala's four runs in the game.
This was Guatemala's first win of the competition and on September 18 at 16:00 local time, they will face USA. South Africa will have a doubleheader on Wednesday, playing Japan at 10:00 and Colombia at 13:00.
