(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos: WBSC Game Media)
   USA captures Under-18 World-title with walk-off win against Chinese Taipei
Nederlands
 LIMA (Peru) -
The USA nipped Chinese Taipei 1-0 in the all-deciding Final of the inaugural WBSC Under-18 Women's Softball World Cup on Sunday (December 12) to capture the title.
The lone run was scored in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Earlier in the day, Puerto Rico won the Bronze Medal by winning 4-0 against Mexico.
The Netherlands closed the tournament on Saturday with a 6-2 win against Colombia to win its lone game of the event.
After the final game of the round-robin on Saturday-evening ended in a win for Mexico against host Peru, the Netherlands finished in a tie for sixth place with Colombia and Peru.
The head-to-head games by these teams ended in a new tie.
According to the Tournament Regulations, the Runs Against in the games played against each other then determine the ranking.
Based on this tie-break rule, the Netherlands will finish in seventh place (5 runs given up), preceeded by Peru (6th place, 3 runs) and followed by Colombia (8th, 6 runs).
In the game for third and fourth place, Puerto Rico scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth inning, thanks to a big contribution by Esperanza Coe.
In the fourth inning, she batted in the first run with a single.
Later in the at bat, the second run was scored on a passed ball.
In the fifth inning, Coe delivered a 2-out, 2-run single to make it a 4-0 score.
Winning pitcher Brianna Roberts struckout six batters and took a No-Hitter into the sixth inning.
In the first five innings, she allowed only one batter to reach base (walk in third inning).
Her No-Hitter ended with two outs in the sixth when Mariangel Barbosa reached on a bunt-single.
In the top of the seventh, Macey Cintrón took over the pitching.
She gave up a lead-off double, then hit the next batter with a pitch.
With two runners on base, Roberts re-entered and got a grounder, but then got the bases loaded when she walked the next batter.
However, the three runners were left behind, as a line out to leftfield and a foul pop-fly ended the inning and the game.
...Winning pitcher Valerie Cagle...
...Shutout, Game-winning double, MVP...
(© Photo: WBSC Game Media) |
The Final between the USA and Chinese Taipei was a quick-paced game that remained scoreless in six innings.
USA-pitcher Valerie Cagle dominated and struckout thirteen batters, while giving up only four hits.
The righthander retired the side in the first two innings (five strikeouts).
She gave a lead-off infield-hit to Yu-Zhen Deng in the third inning, but struckout the next two batters.
Deng then was caught stealing.
In the fourth, Cagle gave up an one-out bunt-single, then followed with two more strikeouts.
Taipei came close to a run in the top of the sixth.
With one out, Chiao-Chi Lai singled, but was forced out on a grounder by Hsin-Yun Li, who then advanced to third base on a single by Yi-Hsuan Chiu.
After Chiu had stolen second base, the inning ended when Li was picked off at third base by catcher Maci Bergeron.
Cagle then retired the side again in the top of the seventh, adding two more strikeouts.
The USA was unable to get into scoring position in its first four at bats off of Taipei-pitcher Hsia-Ai Ke.
With one out in the second, Violet Zavodnik singled, but was then eliminated in a double play after a line drive was caught.
After being retired in order in the third and fourth, the USA got its first runner on second base in the bottom of the fifth.
Olivia Johnson led off with a single and advanced on a 2-out single by Valerie Cagle.
Ke then closed with a strikeout.
After leaving a runner behind on first base in the sixth inning, the USA decided the game in the bottom of the seventh.
Johnson led off with a single and Zadvodnik walked.
Johnson's pinch-runner Karli Spaid was then forced out on third base on a bunt, but with one out, it was Valerie Cagle who decided the outcome herself with a walk-off double, as Zavodnik scored the lone run from second base.
Although this was the first World Cup in the Under-18 age group, it was the fourth consecutive title for the USA in Junior Softball.
The previous youth-championships were for the Under-19 age group.
The last three of these events were also won by the USA, while Japan won Silver each time during the World Cups that were all organized in the USA in respectively Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (2015), Clearwater, Florida (2017) and Irvine, California (2019).
This is also the sixth title for the Americans in the last seven Junior Champioships.
The USA also won in 2007 in Enschede (Netherlands) and in 2011 in Cape Town (South Africa), then finishes in second place in 2013 in Brampton (Canada) when Japan captured the title.
The USA and Japan finished in the top-3 in each of the 13 Under-19 World Championships.
In Peru, Japan didn't participate.
For Chinese Taipei, which finished in fifth place two years ago, this was its first medal since 2011 when it won the Bronze Medal.
...The players and coaches of the USA celebrate the World-title...
(© Photo: WBSC Game Media) |
During the Award Ceremony, Valerie Cagle won the Award for Most Valuable Player.
Also announced was the Under-18 All-World Team, which looks as follows: RHP Alissa Humphrey (USA), LHP Leanna García (Mexico), catcher Chi-Yun Lin (Chinese Taipei), 1B Janelle Martínez (Puerto Rico), 2B Rylee Holtorf (USA), 3B Erin Coffel (USA), short stop Yanina Treviño (Mexico), outfielders Mariangel Barbosa (Mexico), Tatianna Román (Puerto Rico) and Kuei-Ping Yeh (Chinese Taipei) and designated player Megan Grant (USA).
(December 12)
Final Standings
1. USA, 2. Chinese Taipei, 3. Puerto Rico, 4. Mexico,
5. Czech Republic, 6. Peru, 7. Netherlands, 8. Colombia.
(Netherlands, Peru and Colombia ended in a tie; ranking based on Runs Against Rule in head-to-head games).
Related Articles:
 Netherlands closes World Cup with win against Colombia. (December 11)
Netherlands eliminated after two more losses in World Cup. (December 10)
Netherlands in fourth World Cup-game no-hit and shutout by USA. (December 9)
Netherlands also empty-handed against Czechs. (December 8)
Netherlands plays well, but ends up short vs. Chinese Taipei. (December 7)
Netherlands opens U18 World Cup with surprise loss. (December 6)
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