03/08/2024 4 Minute Read

Japan beat USA to win seventh consecutive WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup title

Japan's reign at the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup continued with an 11-6 victory. They took the lead in the third inning on an error and extended it with Yuki Kawabata's home run. USA mounted a comeback attempt with a three-run homer by Alex Hugo, getting as close as putting the potential tying run on first in the sixth inning.

World No. 1 Japan defeated No. 4 USA 11-6 on Saturday in the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Finals 2024 presented by CARNEXT, at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Canada, confirming their seventh consecutive World Championship title.

Japan once again excelled in the running game and the short ball, confirming their status as the best lineup in the tournament with 12 hits. The six-time defending champions appeared to improve as the tournament progressed.

"You are right," commented Miyu Shiraishi through an interpreter. "We united as a team and progressed in the tournament. We definitely improved, and our communication improved. We are a better team now."

"We were nervous at the start," added manager Risa Nakashima. "It was like everybody was a bit tight. After we got clutch hits, we loosened up."

When asked about executing three consecutive squeeze plays in the fourth inning, Nakashima said, "We can't hit the ball out of the park. We don't have that power, so we need to know how to manufacture some runs."

Japan has dominated women's baseball since 2008.

"We have seven consecutive world titles," said Nakashima on a final note. "But I don't feel like we are dominating. Today, the game could have gone either way. The US never had their momentum. We need to work on a lot of things. We have learned from this tournament that we need to work harder."

USA committed three defensive errors at critical moments in the game. Manager Veronica Alvarez does not believe it was due to pressure.

"It's part of the game; those things happen. I don't necessarily think it was the pressure. Of course, there's pressure when you compete at this level, but our women performed well under pressure. They kept trusting each other and tried to fight back, and they didn't lose energy because of those big innings that Japan had."

Alvarez views the silver medal as an accomplishment: "It's a big accomplishment. We hadn't been in a big tournament since 2018, and in 2018, we didn't even medal. Competing against Japan and beating them in the opening round is a big deal. The women have bought into the program; they really applied, getting better and better every year."

Alvarez will soon get back to work.

"I told the players we could only learn from this experience. They did the best with what they had, and that's all I could ask for. There are younger players coming up, so there will be competition. We want this World Title, and we will keep working on this when we get into our development events."

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The Live Blog as it happened

Japan selected Miyu Shimizu as their starting pitcher, while USA countered with Jillian Albayati.

The game began under light rain.

Remi Schaber recorded the game's first hit in the top of the second inning, driving a hard grounder off Ayaka Deguchi's glove at third to reach with a two-out double.

Japan took the lead in the top of the third. Nanako Hanabusa singled to lead off the inning and was bunted to second. Ayaka Deguchi then singled through the right side, advancing Hanabusa to third. With the runner holding, Olivia Pichardo overthrew home, allowing Hanabusa to score on the error.

Deguchi advanced to second on a groundout and scored Japan's second run on Haruna Tadano's single to left field.

Japan continued to build their lead. Yuki Kawabata watched a ball before driving the second pitch she saw over the right field wall for a two-run homer, extending the lead to 4-0.

Shimizu hit Ashton Lansdell and Alex Hugo with back-to-back pitches with two outs in the bottom of the third. Naomi Ryan hit a slow chopper to third base, and Deguchi's throw went wide of the bag. Lansdell scored on the error, and Hugo advanced to third. Shimizu escaped the inning with a groundout to third.

Kelsie Whitmore replaced Albayati, who moved to left field, in the top of the fourth. Akari Hoshikawa greeted her with a leadoff single and reached second when Whitmore walked Miu Shiraishi. Whitmore hit Hanabusa to load the bases.

Olivia Pichardo replaced Whitmore on the mound, with Whitmore staying in the game in centre field.

Japan scored their fifth run when Kae Iwami squeezed Hoshikawa in with a bunt. With one out, Deguchi dropped another bunt, scoring Shiraishi. Miura followed with a third consecutive bunt, scoring Hanabusa. She reached second on the error, while Deguchi advanced to third.

Pichardo ended the at-bat with a strikeout.

Japan extended their lead in the top of the fifth. Miwa Naraoka led off with a single and advanced to second when Hoshikawa walked. Shiraishi sent a line drive between Naomi Ryan and the first-base bag for an RBI single, bringing Hoshikawa to third.

Shiraishi stole second, and with runners at second and third, Hanabusa hit an RBI single to left field, making it a 9-1 game. Hanabusa then stole second, again putting runners at second and third. Pichardo struck out Iwami, but Deguchi followed with an RBI single to left field.

Miura grounded into a force out at second, but the US. failed to complete the double play, allowing Hanabusa to score and extend Japan's lead to 11-1.

Pinch hitter Jamie Baum led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and advanced to second on a walk. Alex Hugo turned Shimizu's fifth pitch into a three-run homer to deep centre, cutting the deficit to 11-4.

With Olivia Pichardo on first and two outs, Natsuki Kubo took the mound for Japan and ended the fifth inning with a flyout.

Akino Tanaka pitched for Japan in the bottom of the sixth and found herself in trouble. She hit Valerie Perez and allowed back-to-back hits to Denae Benites and Kylee Lahners.

Ashton Lansdell's blooper to shallow centre field fell, allowing Perez to score the fifth USA run from third. Tanaka struck out Hugo for the first out. Ryan grounded out to second, but Benites scored, making it an 11-6 game. Lahners advanced to third, and Lansdell reached second on the play.

Tanaka walked Whitmore, loading the bases and bringing the potential 10th run to the plate. The inning ended on Pichardo's grounder to second.

USA called on Megan Meidlinger to relieve Pichardo for the last Japan at bat and she only allowed one single, leaving it to the US batting line up to see if they can continue their scoring run in the bottom of the seventh. And while Tanaka put two runners on base, she managed to also claim the three important outs, with catcher Hanabusa claiming a Lansdell foul ball to spark the Japanese celebrations.

Japan beat USA to win seventh consecutive WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup title

The Live Blog as it happened

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