(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen, Fred Versluis & Marco Stoovelaar)
      Australia & Japan win twice on Day 1 of Asia Pacific Cup
Nederlands
 BLACKTOWN, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) -
Host Australia and number two ranked Japan opened Day One of the Asia Pacific Cup on Thursday (February 1) with two victories.
Six countries are participating in this new 7-team event, which is organized in Australia and played at the Blacktown International Sportspark near Sydney, which also was the site of the Olympic softball-tournament in 2000.
Besides Australia (ranked 4th) and Japan (2), the other participating countries are China (12), Chinese Taipei (5), Italy (9) and New Zealand (11).
The seventh participating team is an Australian All Star Team.
All teams have experienced international players on their rosters, including some who have played in the highest Dutch league.
They are Leigh Godfrey, Belinda White and Ellen Roberts (all Australia), Kingsley Avery and Katrina Nukunuku (both New Zealand).
Roberts and Avery played in the Golden League last year.
Roberts pitched Olympia Haarlem to the Dutch championship-title, while Avery played for Sparks Haarlem.
Godfrey played played for Sparks Haarlem in 2013, White played for DSS in 2016 and Nukunuku (then Stockford) won the Dutch title with Tex Town Tigers in 2008.
...Greta Cecchetti pitching for Italy...
...during the World Championship...
...2014 in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On Day One, Japan opened with a 3-1 victory against European vice-champion Italy, which recorded only two basehits.
Veteran pitcher Greta Cecchetti threw a fine game for Italy, who gave up only one earned run in the five innings she threw.
Nodoka Harada batted in two of the three Japanese runs.
Italy got two baserunners in the top of the first inning off of Kana Nakano.
With two outs, Priscilla Brandi walked and Giulia Longhi singled, but they stranded on first and third base.
Japan also got into scoring position in its first at bat, but also didn't score.
With one out, Yuka Ichiguchi singled, advanced on a grounder and reached third base on a wild pitch.
Yu Yamamoto then walked and stole second base.
The bases got loaded when Nozomi Nagasaki also walked, but a force play-grounder then ended the at bat.
After pitcher Kana Nakano struckout the side in the top of the second inning, Japan took an 1-0 lead in its second at bat.
Mana Atsumi led off with a single and scored on a 2-out double by Nodoka Harada.
Italy came alongside in the third inning.
Mariel Bertossi then led off with a bunt-single, stole second base and was brought to third base with a sacrifice bunt by Laura Vigna.
An error on a force play-grounder by Fabrizia Marrone then made it an 1-1 score.
Italy didn't reached the bases again until the seventh inning.
Japan re-took the lead in the fifth inning.
With one out, Yuka Ichiguchi doubled and was able to score when an outfield-error followed.
Japan added an insurance run in the sixth off of reliever Ilaria Cacciamani.
With two outs and the bases loaded, then run was scored on a walk for Nodoka Harada to make it a 3-1 score, but the team left three runners behind.
In the top of the seventh inning, with one out, Silvia Refrontolotto became the last Italian runner when she reached on an error.
But she was then eliminated in a game-ending double play.
In the next game, China won 4-1 against Chinese Taipei.
After three scoreless innings, China scored its four runs in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Jia Chen tripled and scored on a single by Xiaoqing Wang.
The latter was replaced by pinch-runner Qianwen Xu, who moved on an infield-hit by Jia Xu.
The two runners moved on a grounder, then scored on a single by Huaining Yuan, who herself was able to advance on an error.
After a pitching change, she scored the next run on a single by Yining Liu to make it a 4-0 score.
Chinese Taipei scored its lone run in the top of the sixth inning.
With one out, Meng-Ting Lai reached on an infield-hit, advanced to third base on a single by Miao-Yi Chen and scored on a sacrifice fly by Yi-Ting Yang.
...Yu Yamamoto playing for Japan when the...
...team won the Gold at the 2014 World...
...Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In it's second game, Japan shutout China,10-0 in four innings.
Japan rallied for six runs in the third inning, then added four more in the fourth.
Winning pitcher Yukari Hamamura gave up only one basehit.
In the third inning, Japan scored six runs on six basehits.
With two outs and runners on second and third base, Natsuko Sugama delivered a 2-run single.
Hereafter, Yu Yamamoto accounted for the next run with a triple and scored herself on a following single by Manami Daikuya.
Two more runs were added when Nozomi Nagasaki homered.
In this inning, there were five consecutive basehits and Japan recorded an unique team-cycle, as these included a single, double, triple and homerun!
In the bottom of the fourth, Japan scored four more runs, thanks to an error and singles by Natsuko Sugama, Manami Daikuya and Nozomi Nagasaki.
The latter hit a walk-off single with two outs to end the game via the mercy-rule.
The Australian All Star Team won 4-0 in its first game against New Zealand.
The All Star Team has several experienced players, including some (former) National Team-players.
For New Zealand, lead-off hitter Kingsley Avery reached on an error in the first inning, but was eliminated in a double play.
Moments later, the All Stars scored three runs in its first inning.
Rachel Lack led off with a double and scored on a 2-out single by Verity Long-Droppert.
Hereafter, Jessica Torpey followed with a 2-run homerun.
In the second inning, the All Stars added another run.
With two outs, Rachel Lack tripled and scored when Carmelle Sorensen followed with a double.
Australia recorded a 7-0 shutout-win in its first game of the event against Italy.
The team collected seven basehits, including three by Leigh Godfrey, who also scored once and batted in two runs.
Starting pitcher Kaia Parnaby struckout seven hitters and gave up only two hits in four innings, then Ellen Roberts completed the game.
...Leigh Godfrey while playing...
...for Sparks Haarlem in 2013...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Australia rallied for four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Leigh Godfrey led off with a single, then the bases got loaded with one out when Stacey Porter walked and Taylah Tsitsikronis was hit by a pitch.
All three scored when Georgia Casey followed with a baseclearing double.
With two outs, Casey scored on a single by Jade Wall.
Australia added a run in the second inning on a single by Leigh Godfrey.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Australia made it a 6-0 score on a double by Jade Wall.
The 7-run difference mercy-rule difference was reached in the bottom of the sixth
Lead-off hitter Belinda White then reached second base on an error and scored on a walk-off single by Leigh Godfrey.
Italy only reached base in the first and sixth inning.
With two outs in the first inning, Priscilla Brandi and Giulia Longhi both singled, but were left behind.
Italy was then retired in order in the next four innings.
With two outs in the sixth, Beatrice Ricchi singled, but was picked off first base by catcher Belinda White.
After having lost its first game of the day, Chinese Taipei recorded a big 10-3 win against the All Stars, which had opened with a victory.
Chinese Taipei collected 16 basehits, including three by Yi-Ting Yang and Yi Yen.
The latter also scored three runs.
Taipei opened the score with three runs in the second inning.
With two outs and two runners on base, Yi Yen delivered a runscoring single.
Hereafter, two runs were scored on an infield-hit (!) by Meng-Ting Lai.
The All Stars got two runs back in the third inning.
With one out, the bases got loaded when Rachel Lack and Carmelle Sorensen were hit by a pitch and Verity Long-Droppert reached on an infield-hit.
A force play-grounder by Jessica Torpey and an error then accounted for the two runs.
...Stacey Porter finished in 3rd place..
...with Australia during the 2014 World...
...Championship in Haarlem (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
Taipei scored another run in the third when Yi-Ting Yang led off with a double and scored on a single by Feng-Chen Lin.
The Asian squad then took more distance with a 5-run rally in the fourth inning.
With two runners on base and one out, Yi-Hsuan Su singled in a run.
After a walk loaded the bases, two runs were scored on a single by Feng-Chen Lin and a following outfield-error.
Singles by Chih-Ying Lin and Pei-Chun Lin then lifted the lead to 9-2.
In the top of the fifth, the All Stars made it a 6-run difference when Carmelle Sorensen led off with a homerun.
But moments later, Taipei again reached the 7-run difference to end the game via the mercy rule.
In the bottom of the fifth, the bases got loaded with one out, then the game ended on a walk-off single by Yi-Ting Yang.
Australia closed the first day with an 8-0 shutout-win against New Zealand.
Australia rallied for three runs in both the first and second inning.
In the first inning, Leigh Godfrey led off with a single and Stacey Porter doubled wiht one out, then both scored on a double by Taylah Tsitsikronis.
With two outs, the latter scored on a single by Melinda Weaver.
In the next at bat, Australia increased the lead to 6-0.
Belinda White led off with a double and scored on an one-out single by Clare Warwick
With the bases loaded and two outs, two runs were added on a single by Jade Wall.
Australia reached a mercy-rule run-diference in the bottom of the fourth when two runs were added on a double by Melinda Weaver, which made it an 8-0 score.
New Zealand recorded only two basehits in this game, which were both hit by Kingsley Avery.
She also was the lone runner to get into scoring position in the first inning.
(February 1)
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