Iva Strakova powers Czechia over Colombia

With a balanced offence of 12 hits, Czechia defeated Colombia 11-4 in six innings on Thursday, securing their second win in the Opening Round of the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group A at Estádio Municipal de Beisebol Mie Nishi in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Eight of the nine European batters hit safely, with Iva Strakova and Lucie Cervenkova collecting three and two RBIs each. Lucie Vecerova earned her first win of the tournament, pitching four innings and allowing three hits and four runs (one earned) with three strikeouts.

Czechia took an early lead in the bottom of the third inning. With runners on first and second and two outs, Strakova hit a clutch two-run triple into the left-centre field gap, giving the European champions a 3-0 lead. On the next pitch, Sara Von Tsurikov plated Strakova with a single.

In the top of the fourth, Colombia took advantage of defensive errors to take a one-run lead. With two runners on, Audrey Lum singled to right field, and the Czech right fielder misplayed the grounder, allowing the two runners to score. Makenzie Degan walked, and then both scored on a throwing error by shortstop Strakova, making it 4-3 for Colombia.

Czechia responded immediately in the bottom of the fourth, mounting a five-run rally to retake the lead. They took advantage of two hits and two errors, putting the game back in their favour at 8-4.

In the fifth inning, Tereza Koubova scored on a wild pitch, extending Czechia's lead to 9-4. Czechia sealed the game in the bottom of the sixth with four consecutive hits, including a walk-off single by Koubova, finishing the game 11-4.