Japan outscore Chinese Taipei to open Women's Baseball World Cup Finals

World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 2 Chinese Taipei, 9-4, to open the Women's Baseball World Cup Finals. Wakana Mori pitched nine solid innings to earn the win. After a quick Japanese lead, the game went tied into the fourth. The fourth and fifth Japanese at-bats broke the score open.

Both teams missed scoring opportunities in the first.

Iori Miura doubled on the fifth pitch delivered by Chinese Taipei starter Wen-Ching Hsieh. Japan bunted her to third, and Hsieh allowed a one-out walk. With runners at the corners, Japan tried to squeeze in the game's first run. Miwa Naraoka dropped a comebacker, and Hsieh had plenty of time to assist catcher Shih Yun Lee. Naraoka was trapped for the second out, and Hsieh got out of the at-bat with a flyout.

Shortstop Yu-Ying Hsieh led off the bottom of the first with a base hit. Chinese Taipei bunted her to second, and Hsiao-Mei Cheng followed with a single through the right side. With runners at the corners, Chiao-Yun Huang sent a swinging bunt to the mound, and Mori got the second out at home. Runners advanced to third and second on a double steal, but Mori ended the inning by getting the third out on strikes.

Japan took the lead in the top of the second. Miura hit a two-out and two-RBI double. She advanced to third on the play and scored on Haruna Tadano's single to make it 3-0. The at-bat ended when Tadan tried to score from second on a single by Miwa Naraoka and became the third out at the plate.

Japan failed to execute a double play in the bottom of the third and Chinese Taipei thrived on it, scoring the first run on a bases-loaded walk and tying the game on a two-RBI single by Yi-Hsuan Chiu. Japan got the third out of the at-bat at home plate.

Hsieh hit Ayaka Deguchi to lead off the first. Miura bunted her to second, and Tadano followed with a base hit. With runners at third and second, Yuki Kawabata went deep to left field. Yen-Tzu Hung ran the ball down but couldn't prevent Daguchi from scoring. Miwa Naraoka cleared the bases with an RBI double, extending Japan's lead to 5-3.

Hsieh left with a runner at second and one out in the top of the fifth. Kae Iwami singled on reliever Yu-Pei Chen's second pitch to extend Japan's lead to 6-3. Pinch hitter Yazuha Nakamura and Miura hit infield singles to manufacture another run.

Chinese Taipei cut the gap to 7-4 in the bottom half of the frame. Chiao-Yun Huang reached on a two-out double and scored on Pei-Chen Huang's RBI single.

Japan added an insurance run in the top of the sixth on Osada's sacrifice fly.

Natsuki Kubo took the mound for Japan in the bottom of the sixth. The reliever allowed a couple of hits but got herself out of trouble by striking out the side.

Li-Ching Huang took the mound for Chinese Taipei in the top of the seventh. Japan took advantage of a defensive error and extended the lead to 9-4.

Chinese Taipei will open Day 2 facing No. 3 Venezuela, while Japan will play the night game against No. 7 Canada.