THUNDER BAY, Ontario – The United States won its fourth straight game and shutout Chinese Taipei, 9-0, on day four of the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Finals at Port Arthur Stadium. This victory clinches a berth for Team USA in the championship, to be held Saturday, August 3rd against Japan.
While pitching has been a strong suit for the U.S. in the World Cup Finals, it revealed its full potential in this seven-inning shutout of Chinese Taipei. Elise Berger was resilient in her debut on the bump, pumping 4.0 clean innings while punching out four batters. Kate Blunt was called on in relief in the fifth and refused to concede a hit in her outing. The third U.S. arm to make an appearance was Niki Eckert, who took the mound in back-to-back days and finalized the shutout for Team USA. She tossed 2.0 quality innings of no-hit ball and struck out one Chinese Taipei batter.
Following the trend as in days past, the red, white, and blue took the lead in the first frame and never looked back, as a sacrifice fly off the bat of Olivia Pichardo allowed the U.S. to gain an early advantage. Team USA scored at least one run in five separate innings and tallied double-digit hits as a team for the third game in a row. Leading the charge was Ashton Lansdell and Naomi Ryan, who both boasted 2-for-4 performances at the plate. Jillian Albayati, Kelsie Whitmore, and Valerie Perez took advantage of runners on base and each collected two RBIs. Perez, Ryan, and Remi Schaber are each riding three-game hit streaks heading into the fifth day of action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Pichardo rejoined the batting lineup after pitching the night prior, doing so in fashion with a sac fly in the first to give the U.S. an early 1-0 lead.
- Albayati continued to pose a threat at the plate and drilled a hard ground ball up the middle in the third to make it 3-0.
- A leadoff single in the fourth by Ryan signaled more offense was to come, as Whitmore came to the plate three batters later and lasered a 3-1 offering to left field for a two-RBI double. Whitmore eventually made it 6-0 after she came around to score on a passed ball.
- Another run was tacked on in the fifth after a two-out error allowed Alex Hugo to reach base and Lansdell to score.
- Perez added more gas to the fire in the sixth, as she found the center field grass for a two-RBI base hit and cemented the 9-0 victory.
NOTABLES
- Lansdell is currently the tournament leader in stolen bases (4) while Hugo remains the leader among all players in runs scored (7).
- The U.S. is one of two teams undefeated in the World Cup Finals, the other being Japan (4-0).
- This win lands Team USA in the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Championship for the first time since 2014.
- This victory against Chinese Taipei is the first shutout since the opening game, when the U.S. won 7-0 in a no-contest.
- 2024 is the first time Team USA has competed against Chinese Taipei since 2018, when the stars and stripes lost 3-4 in a Women’s Baseball World Cup matchup held in Viera, Florida.
- The U.S. is 7-1 all-time against Chinese Taipei.
QUOTABLE
- “The main focus was to throw strikes and attack early,” Berger said postgame. “This is a team you don’t want to get behind and I trusted my defense, they continued to make plays behind me.”
- “The train is going and not stopping,” Berger remarked. “Our mission is to be the best in the world and we want to leave no doubt, this was definitely a game where we proved that for anyone watching.”
- “Elise [Berger] threw a lot of strikes tonight,” Pitching coach Reynol Mendoza said postgame. “When she fell behind in the count she did a good job battling back; quality pitches and outs were made when they needed to be.”
ON DECK
The Women’s National Team wraps up round-robin play and will face defending Women’s World Cup champions Japan tomorrow, August 1st, at 11:00 a.m. ET. Live stats will be provided via WBSC, and the contest will be streamed on GameTime while highlights will be posted to YouTube.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To follow along with all the action with the Women’s National Team, be sure to follow @USABaseballWNT on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.
