Japan beat USA, win seventh consecutive Women's Baseball World Cup

03.08.2024 21:25

World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 4 USA 11-6 in the Women's Baseball World Cup Finals 2024 presented by CARNEXT World Championship Final and confirmed World Champions. It's their seventh title in a row.

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Japan once again mastered the running game and the short ball, but it also confirmed the best lineup in the tournament with 12 hits. The six-time defending champions seemed to improve as the tournament progressed.

"You are right," commented Miyu Shiraishi through an interpreter. We united as a team and progressed into the tournament. We definitely improved, and our communication improved. We are a better team now."

"We were nervous at the start," added manager Risa Nakashima. It was like everybody was a bit tight. After we got clutch hits, we loosened out."

How could you execute three consecutive squeeze plays in the fourth?
"We can't hit the ball out of the park. We don't have that power, so we need to know how to manufacture some runs."

Japan has dominated Women's Baseball since 2008.

"We have seven consecutive World Titles," said Nakashima on a final note, "but I don't feel like we are dominating. Today, the game could have gone either way. The US never had their momentum. We need to work on a lot of things. We have learned from this tournament that we need to work harder."

The US committed three defensive errors in the critical moments of the game. Manager Veronica Alvarez doesn't believe it was because of the pressure.

"It's part of the game; those things happen. I don't necessarily think it was the pressure. Of course, there's pressure when you compete at this level, but our women performed well under pressure. They kept trusting each other and tried to fight back, and they didn't lose the energy because of those big innings that Japan had."

Alvarez believes this silver medal is an accomplishment: "It's a big accomplishment. We weren't in a big tournament since 2018, and in 2018, we didn't even medal. Competing against Japan and beating them in the opening round is a big deal. The women have bought in [the programme]; they really applied, getting better and better every year."

Alvarez will get soon back to work.

"I told the players we could only learn from this experience. They did the best with what they had, and that's all I could ask for. There are younger players coming up, so there will be competitions. We want this World Title, and we will keep working on this when we get into our development events."

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The Live Blog as it happened

World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 4 USA in the final to confirm the Women's Baseball World Champions.

Japan chose Miyu Shimizu as their starting pitcher. The US responded with Jillian Albayati.

The game started under light rain.

Remi Schaber got the game's first hit in the top of the second. She drove a hard grounder off Ayaka Deguchi's glove at third and reached with a two-out double.

Japan scored the go-ahead run in the top of the third. Nanako Hanabusa singled to lead off the inning. Japan bunted her to second, and Ayaka Deguchi followed with a single through the right side, bringing Hanabusa to third. With the runner holding at third, Olivia Pichardo overthrew home, and Hanabusa scored on the error.

Deguchi reached second on a groundout and scored the second run on Haruna Tadano's single to left field.

Japan were not done. Yuki Kawabata looked at a ball, then drove the second pitch she saw beyond the right field wall for a two-run homer, extending Japan's lead to 4-0.

Shimizu hit Ashton Lansdell and Alex Hugo back-to-back with two outs in the bottom of the third. Naomi Ryan hit a slow chopper to third base, and Deguchi's throw went wide from the bag. Lansdell scored on the error, and Hugo reached third. Shimizu got out of the inning with a groundout to third.

Kelsie Whitmore replaced Albayati, who moved to left field, in the top of the fourth. Akari Hoshikawa welcomed her with a leadoff single and reached second when Whitmore walked Miu Shiraishi. Whitmore hit Hanabusa to load the bases.

Olivia Pichardo replaced Whitmore on the mound. Whitmore stayed in the game at centre field,

Japan scored the fifth run when Kae Iwami squeezed Hoshikawa with a bunt. With one out, Deguchi dropped another bunt, scoring Shiraishi. Miura dropped the third consecutive bunt, scoring Hanabusa. She reached second on the error, while Deguchi advanced to third.

Pichardo got out of the at-bat on strikes.

Japan extended the lead in the top of the fifth. Miwa Naraoka led off with a single and advanced to second when Hoshikawa walked. Shiraishi sent a bullet between Naomy Rayan and the first-base bag for an RBI single, bringing Hoshikawa to third.

Shiraishi stole second, and with runners at second and third, Hanabusa hit an RBI single to left field, making it a 9-1 game. Hanabus stole second, putting runners again at third and second. Pichardo struck out Iwami, but Deguchi followed with an RBI single to left field.

Miura grounded into a force out at second, but the US failed to complete the double play, and Hanabusa scored, extending Japan's lead to 11-1.

Pinch hitter Jamie Baum led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and advanced to second on a walk. Alex Hugo turned Shimizu's fifth pitch into a three-run homer to dead centre, cutting the gap to 11-4.

With Olivia Pichardo at first and two outs, Natsuki Kubo took the mound for Japan and ended the fifth on a flyout.

Akino Tanaka took the mound for Japan in the bottom of the sixth and put herself into trouble. She hit Valerie Perez and allowed back-to-back hits to Denae Benites and Kylee Lahners.

Ashton Lansdell's blooper to shallow centre field fell, and Perez scored the fifth USA run from third. Tanaka struck out Hugo to get the first out. Ryan grounded out to second, but Benites scored, making it an 11-6 game. Lahners advanced to third, and Lansdell reached second on the play.

Tanaka walked Whitmore, loading the bases and bringing the potential tenth run at-bat. The inning ended on Pichardo's grounder to second.

The Live Blog as it happened

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