Sunday' s play at the International Softball Federation' s (ISF) XI Women' s World Championship begins in grand fashion as the top two finishers from the 2004 Olympic Softball competition go head-to-head.  Team USA won all seven of their round robin games and Australia lost just two.

 

Two years ago in Athens the Americans won 5-1 to claim the gold medal, but Australia hasn¡¯t gone away.  This year they won the Canada Cup in July and now they come in as the second seed from Pool B.  The teams last met on July 15 at the II World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, with the host team posting a commanding 9-0 win.  The Aussies, however, have been very good here, with one loss having been by one run, and even then it took extra innings to get there.  The other came Saturday night, by two runs, in a game that meant more for their opponent ¨C at least, morale-wise ¨C than for Australia.

 

During Sunday' s game, don' t be surprised to see Melanie Roche or Tanya Harding in the circle for Australia (or a combination of the two).  Coach Fabian Barlow will likely look to the veterans to carry this team back to a medal finish.  For USA, their pitching has been strong, so coacher Mike Candrea has many options on who to give the ball to on Sunday.

 

Game time for USA and Australia is 10:30.

 

Following that game, Japan will take on China at 13:30.  These two teams come in with a combined won-lost record of 13-1.  The schedule has enabled China to be in pressure cooker situations each of their last two round robin games and they overcame losing the first one (albeit only by two runs) nicely in winning a close game against Canada on Saturday (1-0).  Japan will certainly face a raucous crowd at Fengtai Softball Field that could be a difference in leading China to victory, coupled with the fact that the team' s confidence has only increased with each win throughout the past week.  There¡¯s no reason to believe that this game won¡¯t live up to all the hype that is likely to precede it.

 

Play continues at 16:00 when Canada takes on Chinese Taipei.  Despite finishing third in their pool, Canada can feel good about having finished 5-2 considering their two losses were by a combined total of only five runs.  Coach Lori Sippel also has to take some comfort in seeing one of her young players, pitcher Robin Mackin, stand up to the pressure of a game as big as Saturday' s matchup with China was.  Even though she lost, Mackin gave up only one run and gave her team a complete game.  Chinese Taipei (4-3)  comes in off a rollercoaster finish to round robin play in which they rallied from 3-0 down to take a five run lead over Greece, only to have to hold off a late rally to win 8-6 and clinch the final playoff spot.  Chinese Taipei lost to Canada, 2-0, at the 2004 Olympics.  This one could be close.

 

The night will close with a game at 7:30 between Venezuela (5-2) and Italy (3-4).  The won-lost records alone would seem to leave Venezuela as the favorite, but considering past history, Italy might look like the team to beat instead.  At the last ISF Women¡¯s World Championship (2002), Italy finished seventh and made the playoffs while Venezuela was tenth and on the outside looking in following round robin play.  The Italians also have two Olympic Softball appearances under their belts (2004 & 2000) while Venezuela has none.  In late July, Venezuela won the gold medal in the softball competition at the Central American & Caribbean Games in Colombia.  Last year Italy won the European Championship in Prague.  Fans at Fengtai Softball Field on Sunday shouldn¡¯t leave early ¨C this has the makings of a great game to close out the eighth day of play at softball' s marquee event of 2006.

 

Issued by: News Service, Organizing Committee