Women’s Baseball World Cup: Canada falls to Taipei, will play for bronze
Photo Credit: Baseball Canada
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
VIERA, Florida – A three-run third inning gave Chinese Taipei a lead that they did not relinquish as they handed Canada a 6-4 loss at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup.
The loss puts Canada’s record in Super Round play at 2-3 and sets up a date with the United States in tomorrow’s bronze medal game (1PM ET). Chinese Taipei will take on five-time defending champions Japan in the world championship contest.
“We’re not playing for the colour (of medal) that we came here for but it is a medal and we’ll be ready to play,” said Canadian Manager André Lachance.
Canada jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first keyed by a ground rule double off the bat of Amanda Asay (Prince George, BC) that scored two while Madison Willan (Edmonton, Alta.) added an RBI single.
Chinese Taipei responded with three runs in the home half of the inning chasing Canadian starter Liz Gilder (Vancouver, BC) from the game.
“(Taipei) is a good team,” added Lachance. “They put the ball in play and put pressure on you defensively. There’s a reason why they’re in the championship game.”
Reliever Hannah Martensen (Ottawa, Ont.) worked her way out of bases loaded jam in the second before Taipei took advantage of three errors and used two hits and two walks to score three runs and take the lead.
“Chinese Taipei is a team that you can’t make many mistakes against and they took advantage (today) when we weren’t at our best,” explained Lachance. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to mount any sort of a comeback.”
Chinese Taipei starting pitcher Chiao-Yun Huang worked her way out of trouble in the sixth leaving two runners on base and earned the win tossing all seven innings.
Claire Eccles (Surrey, BC) provided three scoreless innings in relief that included three strikeouts.
Tomorrow’s bronze medal game can be viewed live on the WBSC’s YouTube channel.
LINKS:
WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Website
WBSC YouTube Channel
Baseball Canada Women’s National Team Roster