By Bob Fromer
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Surrey, British Columbia, Canada: 21 July – Final games were played on Thursday in the Championship and Placement round-robins at the 30-team Women’s Fastpitch World Championships, and at the end of the evening there was one major surprise.
China defeated Australia 2-0, surviving a last-inning rally when Belinda White struck out with the tying runs on base, and the loss condemned the Aussies, perennially in the world top three, to the Single Page Playoffs that will determine places 9 through 16 in this tournament.
The seeds of that outcome were sown on the first day of the tournament when Australia lost to Mexico, also by 2-0, in their initial round-robin group. By finishing second in that pool, Australia wound up in a second-round group with both the USA and China. One of those three was not going to get through to the top eight, and it turned out to be Australia.
Australia’s fate is the most obvious symptom of what feels a little bit like the passing of the guard here in Canada. The other perennial top four teams, Japan, the United States and Canada, have all made it through to the last eight, but with a bit more of a struggle than usual.
Canada had more trouble with Great Britain that they expected, lost to Venezuela and finished second in their Championship round-robin, which has earned them a tie they may not relish against China.
Japan, with their ace pitcher Yukiko Ueno injured and a number of younger players in their team, came very close to losing both to Venezuela and Great Britain in the Championship round-robin, and it may have been belief as much as anything that got them through. Tonight they beat New Zealand 9-2 in six innings, but the game was tied at 2-2 in the top of the fifth before the Japanese started to hit and the New Zealand defense imploded.
The US has had less of a struggle, and took the Philippines apart 11-0 tonight in four innings. But their earlier wins over both Australia and China were closer than might have been expected in the past, and this US team may yet struggle, and not just against the Japanese.
What this World Championship has shown, above all else, is that a lot of teams around the world are getting stronger, including Venezuela, Puerto Rico, China, the Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, Brasil and GB, while the usual top four teams may not be quite what they were.
It has made for some exciting games in this tournament, and there is every expectation that this kind of competition will continue over the period leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
Double Page Playoff​
Meanwhile, today’s results, while the GB Women’s Team is enjoying two days off, has set up the eight-team Double Page Playoff at the top of the tournament and Single Page Playoffs that will determine places 9-16 and 17-30.
The 31st team, Pakistan, has not been able to overcome visa problems and has never turned up. Neither have two players on the Cuban National Team who got to Canada and then vanished – no one so far is confirming whether they are seeking asylum.
The world intrudes even into what has been a colourful and successful festival of women’s sport in the highly-civilised Pacific Northwest.
Tomorrow (Friday), the teams that have made the top eight will face off against each other:
New Zealand v The Netherlands
China v Canada
Mexico v Japan
Venezuela v USA
The astonishing thing is that it would be difficult to predict the winner in any of those games.
The losers from New Zealand v Netherlands and China v Canada will be done and will finish seventh and eighth, and it will not be a total surprise if Canada falls at that stage.
The two winners from those games will meet the losers of Mexico v Japan and Venezuela v USA.
Last chance for the GB Women
Meanwhile, the teams that are in the 9-to-16 bracket, including the GB Women, will contest what the organisers are calling a Single Page Playoff, but it looks suspiciously like quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.
The four quarter-finals will take place on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Chinese Taipei will play Cuba and Italy has drawn the short straw and will face Australia.
On Saturday, the GB Women will face Brazil at 12.30 pm local time, and later on, the Philippines will play Puerto Rico. The losers are done; the winners keep playing.
For the GB Women, a win against Brazil will achieve their major goal of getting back into the world top 12; anything after that is a bonus (their likely opponent in the semi-final would be Puerto Rico, who defeated Venezuela on Thursday evening by a score of 3-0 and feature top US college pitcher Meghan King from Florida State).
As for the playoffs in the bottom half of the tournament for places 17-30, the following games are scheduled on Friday and Saturday:
Guatemala v France
Uganda v Greece
Switzerland v Israel
Austria v Ecuador
Czech Republic v Peru
Ireland v Israel
Pakistan v Kenya (Kenya will win on a forfeit)
After that, it gets complicated!
Tournament Notes
Unlucky Czechs. The one team that clearly doesn’t belong in the bottom half of the tournament is the Czech Republic, which has won their three Placement Round-Robin games by a combined score of 40-2.
The Czechs wound up in the bottom half after two tough losses in their first round pool by 1-0 to the Philippines (not many people saw that coming) and 2-0 to the Netherlands. The Czechs may well finish at the top of the Placement Group and in 17th place when the tournament is over, but that won’t be much consolation to a team that has been in and around the world’s top ten over the past few years.
The current Czech team has one of the top pitchers in Europe in Veronika Petkova, but not much offense to back her up.
Open or closed? There has been a certain amount of debate here – and at the World Baseball Softball Confederation – over whether having this kind of large open World Championship is a good thing.
The plus side is certainly the festival atmosphere generated here, and the thrill of seeing so many aspiring softball players from all around the world coming together to play and celebrate the sport. The downside is that in the first round of the Championship, of the 45 games played, 32 were won on the mercy rule, and eight of those only lasted three innings.
In fact, the issue is somewhat moot, because for the 2018 World Championship, which will be held in Chiba, Japan, the Japanese have requested the traditional closed 16-team tournament, with places decided by regional qualification. After that, there will almost certainly be the Olympics in 2020 and it will not be until 2022 that the next World Championship is held. So there’s plenty of time to debate the pros and cons.
RESULTS
Here are the full results from Championship and Placement Round-Robins, including Thursday’s games:
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-ROBIN
Section 1
New Zealand 6, GB 0
Japan 6, Chinese Taipei 1
New Zealand 4, Chinese Taipei 0
Japan 4, GB 2
Chinese Taipei 2, GB 1
Japan 9, New Zealand 2 (6 inns)
Section 2
Australia 11, Philippines 1 (5 inns)
USA 6, China 1
China 7, Philippines 1
USA 5, Australia 3
USA 11, Philippines 0 (4 inns)
China 2, Australia 0
Section 3
Brazil 5, Cuba 1
Netherlands 9, Brazil 3
Mexico 1, Cuba 0
Mexico 3, Netherlands 2
Netherlands 9, Cuba 1 (5 inns)
Mexico 5, Brazil 3
Section 4
Puerto Rico 4, Italy 0
Venezuela 6, Canada 1
Venezuela 5, Italy 0
Canada 10, Puerto Rico 0
Puerto Rico 3, Venezuela 0
Canada 3, Italy 1
PLACEMENT ROUND-ROBIN
Section 1
France 9, India 2 (6 inns)
Greece 9, Serbia 2 (5 inns)
France 11, Ireland 0 (3 inns)
Peru 11, Ireland 0 (4 inns)
Peru 8, France 1 (6 inns)
India 5, Ireland 2
Section 2
Austria 5, Greece 4
Austria 7, Pakistan 0 (Forfeit)
Austria 10, Serbia 0 (4 inns)
Greece 9, Serbia 2 (5 inns)
Greece 7, Pakistan 0 (Forfeit)
Serbia 7, Pakistan 0 (Forfeit)
Section 3
Israel 11, Switzerland 8
Czech Republic 6, Guatemala 1
Guatemala 19, Israel 3 (4 inns)
Czech Republic 16, Switzerland 1 (3 inns)
Czech Republic 18, Israel 0 (3 inns)
Guatemala 11, Switzerland 0 (4 inns)
Section 4
Ecuador 4, Uganda 2
Ecuador 15, Kenya 3 (4 inns)
Uganda 9, Kenya 2 (5 inns)
STANDINGS
Final standings in the Championship and Placement Round-Robins were:
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-ROBIN
Section 1
Japan (3-0)
New Zealand (2-1)
Chinese Taipei (1-2)
Great Britain (0-3)
Section 2
USA (3-0)
China (2-1)
Australia (1-2)
Philippines (0-3)
Section 3
Mexico (3-0)
Netherlands (2-1)
Brazil (1-2)
Cuba (0-3)
Section 4
Venezuela (2-1)
Canada (2-1)
Puerto Rico (2-1)
Italy (0-3)
PLACEMENT ROUND-ROBIN
Section 1
Peru (3-0)
France (2-1)
India (1-2)
Ireland (0-3)
Section 2
Austria (3-0)
Greece (2-1)
Serbia (1-2)
Pakistan (0-3)
Section 3
Czech Republic (3-0)
Guatemala (2-1)
Israel (1-2)
Switzerland (0-3)
Section 4
Ecuador (2-0)
Uganda (1-1)
Kenya (0-2)