Australia eliminates China from Women's JR Softball Worlds semis ( 2003-10-20 16:53) (Xinhua)
Australian McGilvray Sophie struck out two and limited China to one infield
singles Sunday night, which led Australia to a 4-0 victory over China and
qualify for the last three at the World Women's Junior Softball Championship in
Nanjing, eastern China's Jiangsu province.
Both teams failed to score in the opening five innings, but McGilvray, the
outfielder of Australia, hit an outfield single in the sixth and China's
outfielders made a crucial error to catch the ball. Australia had two runs by
the error.
The frustrating error foiled Chinese confidence. Pitcher Qi Jia pitched eight
balls in a row when all mounds were loaded, which gave their opponents two more
points.
"I don't think we are lucky with the two points in the match," said
Australia's head coach Evans Leanne. "Our pitcher pitches very well, it is a
good win for us. We played a good game tonight. "
"We are very pleased with the result. We hope to conclude the tournament as
good as at tonight."
China only had one hit during the two-hour match, while Australia had five.
"We didn't do well in attacking, but my players are becoming mature by the
failure. They didn't have much experiences in this kind of international games,"
said Chinese head coach Liu Yaming.
Australia will face the United States on Monday for the berth of the finals.
The other berth had gone to defending champion Japan, who defeated the United
States 2-1 on Sunday night.
