(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
    New South Wales hands Queensland first loss in Australian Softball Championship
Nederlands
 BLACKTOWN, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) -
New South Wales Firestars won 6-2 vs. Queensland Heat on Friday-evening (January 6) to hand the unbeaten leader its first loss on what was a rainy fifth day of the 70th edition of the Women's Softball Fastpitch Australian National Championship Tournament.
Because of the weather-conditions, all games were postponed and moved towards the evening.
Eventually, three games could be played in the evening.
The three remaining games of the Round Robin have been re-scheduled for Saturday.
All six teams played one game on Friday-evening.
They will play their tenth and remaining game of the Round Robin on Saturday-afternoon.
Initially, the three deciding Play-Off games were to be played on Saturday.
With the addition of the three remaining Round Robin-games in the afternoon, the Semi-Final (nr. 1 vs. nr. 2) and the Play-Off game between the nrs. 3 and 4 have been moved to the evening.
The game for fifth and sixth place has been transfered to Sunday-afternoon.
Also on Sunday, the Second Semi-Final (Backdoor) and Grand Final are scheduled.
Before today, Queensland Heat had won all eight games it had played so far.
But tonight, the reigning champion lost 6-2 to New South Wales Firestars.
With this, both teams are now 8-1, meaning their last games on Saturday will decide first and second place.
Whatever the outcome, Queensland and NSW will face each other on Saturday-evening in the Semi-Final.
...Saskia Kosterink...
...scored lone run for Flames...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
NSW struck early with three runs in the first inning, then added two runs in the second at bat off of Brooke McNamara, who went the distance for Queensland.
Winning pitcher Amelia Cudicio struckout nine batters and gave up six hits.
In the opening at bat, Stacey McManus doubled with one out, then veteran powerhitter Stacey Porter was walked intentionally.
But hereafter, Samantha Poole homered to give NSW an early lead.
In the second inning, she added a runscoring single, then a basesloaded walk for Rachel Lack made it 5-0.
Trailing 5-1 in the third inning, Chelsea Forkin led off with a homerun for Queensland, but that was to be all for the team.
NSW scored one more run in the sixth on an RBI-double by Samantha Poole, who was 4-for-4 and batted in five runs.
Also on Friday-evening, ACT Diamonds nipped South Australia Starz, 1-0.
The lone run was scored in the first inning.
With one out, Katherine Tye reached on an infield-hit, then scored on a following double by Lauren Haeger off of Monica Perry.
The American righthander went the distance for Starz and struckout nine batters, but ended up empty-handed, as her teammates were limited to only three hits by two pitchers.
In the third inning, Starz had runners on second and third base with two outs, but then the lead-runner was eliminated by Italian catcher Ilaria Pino in a rundown.
In the sixth, Starz again had runners on second and third with two outs.
This time, the bases were loaded via an intentional walk for Belinda White, but hereafter, pitcher Vanesse Stokes closed the at bat by successfully fielding a comeback-grounder.
With the loss, Starz was eliminated for the Play-Offs and will play in the game for fifth and sixth place on Sunday.
With its win, ACT moved into fourth place and has a good chance to reach the Play-Offs.
Western Australia Flames also won only 1-0 vs. Victoria Titans
Flames scored the lone run in the third inning.
With one out, Netherlands Team-player Saskia Kosterink faced Italian Team-pitcher Greta Cecchetti, as they have done many times in their careers.
Kosterink singled, then stole second base and scored what would be the lone run on a 2-out single by Leigh Godfrey.
In the fourth, Titans came close to tying the score.
With one out, Tayla Supple doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch with two outs, but then was left behind.
This was Victoria's second and last basehit in the game, as Desiree Ybarra threw three hitless innings in relief of starter Amber Johnson to complete the game.
With the win, Flames secured itself of a spot in the Play-Offs, as it will finish in either third or fourth place.
Despite its loss, Victoria Titans has one final chance of reaching the top-4.
On Saturday, it will face South Australia Starz, while fourth placed ACT Diamonds meets Queensland Heat.
In case of a ACT-loss and Titans-win, these teams will end up in a tie for fourth place.
As Titans have won both its head-to-head games against ACT, it will then qualify for the Play-Offs.
When South Australia wins against Victoria and ACT is beaten by Queensland, that will lead to a tie between South Australia and ACT.
But in the Round Robin, ACT won twice against South Australia, meaning that team was eliminated for the top-4 after its loss today.
(January 6)
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