Baseball Canada’s national women’s team’s hopes for a gold medal at the Women’s World Cup in Taipei, Taiwan were dashed with a 9-4 loss to Australia today.
After beating the defending gold and silver medalists from the United Sates and Japan to help the Canadians start the tournament with three straight victories, Canada has now suffered two consecutive defeats, placing the team in a dog fight for a medal.
“We managed 10 hits, but never at the right moments,” said Canadian head coach André Lachance. “It was a really tough day for us.”
Canada made three errors behind starting pitcher Martine Nadeau (Québec, Qué.) who was tagged with the loss.
Japan and the U.S., who share the top spot in the tournament with 4-1 records, will face-off tomorrow to determine the World Champion. What follows could be a murky tie-break scenario in which a possibility of four teams could be involved with 4-2 records. Two of those teams would be left out of the medals.
Barring a major upset against winless Hong Kong in the final game of the tournament tomorrow, Canada will likely finish at 4-2, as will the loser of the Japan/U.S. game. Chinese Taipei could also finish at 4-2 with a win over Cuba while Australia has already wrapped up its schedule, also at 4-2.
Standings
Japan 4-1
U.S.A 4-1
Canada 3-2
Chinese Taipei 3-2
Cuba 1-4
Hong Kong 0-5
Tomorrow
U.S.A. vs. Japan
Canada vs. Hong Kong
Chinese Taipei vs. Cuba
*Box score from this game has not been released.
