Auckland, New Zealand: March 10 -- Two big swings of the bat -- a solo home run by Patrick Shannon in the second inning and a three-run blast by Rhys Casley in the third -- were enough to bring the ISF World Championship home to New Zealand today, as the Black Sox defeated Venezuela 4-1 in the Gold Medal game.
Earlier today, defending champions Australia lost 2-0 to Venezuela in the Bronze Medal game and finished third.
New Zealand have now won four of the last five Men's Fastpitch World Championships, and their fifth overall since the competition began in 1966, one more than the United States. But the last time the US won was in 1998 and the Americans could only finish in eighth place this year, just one place ahead of Great Britain.
The GB Team, who lost their first three games in the round-robin, then won the next three to give themselves a shot at the playoffs, lost 4-1 to the United States on Thursday in a playoff place decider in Pool A.
This tournament was notable for the emergence of strong teams from Latin America. Not only did Venezuela finish second, but Argentina, winners of the ISF Junior Men's World Championships last year, finished in fourth place.
Canada finished fifth, Japan sixth and Samoa seventh.
Power tells
Venezuela jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in the Gold Medal game when the leadoff hitter, Iran Paez, tripled off New Zealand starter and winner Jeremy Manley. Venezuela went on to load the bases with one out, but could score only the one run on a sacrifice fly by John Zambrano.
That was to prove Venezuela's best chance, as Manley scattered three hits the rest of the way while walking just two and striking out six.
Venezuela tied the score in the bottom of the second inning when Patrick Shannon hit a two-out home run off Venezuela's second pitcher of the day, Erick Urbaneja.
In the bottom of the third inning, Venezuela brought in their third pitcher, Ramon Jones, with two outs and no one on base, and that was their undoing. Jones hit Brad Rona with a pitch, walked Daniel Milne on a 3-2 count, and then gave up the game-winning home run to Rhys Casley.
Playoff results
Here are the full results of the playoffs -- a three-day double Page Playoff:
Friday March 8
Japan 4, Samoa 2
Argentina 9, USA 2
New Zealand 5, Australia 4
Venezuela 3, Canada 1
Saturday, March 9
Australia 4, Japan 0
Argentina 2, Canada 1
New Zealand 2, Venezuela
Australia 2, Argentina 1
Sunday, March 10
Venezuela 2, Australia 0 (Bronze Medal Game)
New Zealand 4, Venezuela 1 (Gold Medal Game)