MADRID, Spain---Chinese Taipei took advantage of four walks and three wild pitches to defeat the USA Elite National Team on day five of the Intercontinental Cup. The 4-0 win advances Chinese Taipei into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed where it will face No. 2 U.S. in a rematch at 10:30 a.m.
CST.
“We are obviously disappointed with the loss but realize the tournament starts over tomorrow when we enter the playoffs,” said head coach Teresa Wilson. “We have to put this game behind us and come out ready to play tomorrow.”
U.S. starter Jocelyn Forest got into trouble early by walking the lead off batter who advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on back to back wild pitches. Two more walks to Chiu Ching Lee and Hui Wen Huang was all it took before Forest was removed in favor of Gina Oaks.
Oaks got out of the first inning without any further damage but was tagged for two runs in the third inning. Taipei, who only had one hit in the first three innings, used aggressive base running and took advantage of two U.S.
errors to take a 3-0 lead.
The USA’s most promising opportunity to score came in the fifth inning when Tiffany Haas and Catalina Morris singled and Marissa Nichols walked to load the bases with two outs. But following a pitching change, a ground out to the pitcher left the bases loaded.
Taipei added a run in the sixth when Hsiao Chi Lee singled, advanced to second on an error, to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly.
A two out rally in the sixth where Heather Scaglione (San Diego, Calif.) and Lauren Lappin (Anaheim, Calif.) reached on singles was ended when Haas popped up to the second baseman to end the inning.
The U.S. had six hits in the game while holding Taipei to just three but did commit its first three errors of the tournament.
“I was pleased with the way we hit the ball today but we still couldn’t come up with the timely hits. That is something we will need to improve on tomorrow when we get the opportunity to face them again,” said Wilson. “
Forest picked up the loss after walking three and allowing one run in 1/3 of an inning, Oaks, who pitched 6 2/3 innings in relief, allowed three unearned runs and struck out eight.
Morris, who was 2-for-3, was the only U.S. player to record more than one hit in the game.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 88 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven World Championship titles including the last five consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com
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