VIDEO: Venezuela wins Men’s World Softball Championship for first time

The first two and a half innings of the game stayed scoreless, but Japan took the lead in the bottom of the third. With one out, Yusuke Morita walked, then advanced to third on another hit. Kaito Masaki hit a sacrifice fly that would score Morita.

Another scoreless inning came in the fourth, but then the Americans came to bat in the fifth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Jeffrey Lewis hit a grand slam over centre field to get the U.S. on the board.

Japan left two runners stranded in the bottom of the fifth before the U.S. came back to the plate for the top of the sixth. Cameron Schiller hit a lead off double, then Jonathan Lynch reached the base on an infield single, and then Tyler Johnson hit a three run home run.

The U.S. kept Japan scoreless in the bottom of the sixth before going back on the offensive. Jeffrey Lewis hit a leadoff single, and two pitches later Erick Ochoa hit a home run to score. Two pitches later, again, Blaine Milheim hit a solo home run to make it 10-1.

Japan put two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, but the U.S.A. used that to finish the game on a double play and earn the bronze medal.

American pitcher Marco Diaz pitched all seven innings, giving up eight hits, a single run, two walks, and six strikeouts on the day.

Gold Medal Game: Venezuela 3 – 0 New Zealand

While the game was low scoring, runners were in play almost every inning. In the top of the first, New Zealand put runners on the corners with one out, but they’d fail to capitalize with a pop fly caught at second that stopped Benjamin Enoka from scoring from third, and another fly out to right field brought Venezuela up to bat. They would see three batters up, and three batters down.

In the second inning, Venezuelan pitcher Maiker Pimentel struck out three straight, bringing Venezuela back to bat. New Zealand’s pitcher Liam Potts gave up a single with two outs, but he’d earn two outs off contact before ending the inning on a three pitch strikeout.

New Zealand put a runner on base with two outs, but again failed to score. Venezuela came back to the plate in the bottom of the inning, and with an 0-2 count, Pedro Flores hammered a solo home run over New Zealand’s fans sitting in centre field, putting Venezuela up 1-0.

Both teams went scoreless through the fourth inning, but New Zealand threatened to score in the fifth. Venezuela pulled Maiker Pimentel after he seemed to be suffering an injury, which brought in Luis Colombo. Colombo threw eight straight balls, putting runners on first and second, and that prompted another pitching change to Eudomar Toyo, and he’d strikeout the next batter to get Venezuela out of a jam.

The bottom of the fifth was nearly identical to the top with Venezuela also threatening to score, but New Zealand holding them off. After Liam Potts earned an out off a fly ball, the New Zealand pitcher also walked the next two batters. That prompted the Americans to bring in Pita Rona, and Rona got two outs off contact.

New Zealand’s first two batters struck out, but David Enoka singled to centre field, and Seth Blair hit a double to put both runners in scoring position. Then Venezuela went back to their starting pitcher Maiker Pimentel, and he earned a pop fly that was caught, again getting Venezuela out of a jam and bringing them back to bat.

In the bottom of the sixth, Rogelio Sequera faced nine pitches, fouled off three, and finally earned a walk. Then Kleiver Rodriquez stepped to the plate, and he took the second pitch he saw for a ride over the centre field walk, right over the New Zealand fans again.z Venezuela had a 3-0 lead.

If New Zealand had any hope left coming up to bat at the top of the inning, it was quickly stifled on the first at bat. Te Wera Bishop hit a hard line drive down the left field line, but Venezuelan third baseman Rogello Sequera reacted quick and made an incredible jumping catch. Pimentel struck out the next two batters, and the Venezuelans won their first Softball World Championship.

undefined