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 IvaStrakova and Lucie Cervenkova collecting three and two RBIs each. LucieVecerova earned her first win of the tournament, pitching four innings andallowing three hits and four runs (one earned) with three strikeouts.
Czechia took an early lead in the bottom of the thirdinning. With runners on first and second and two outs, Strakova hit a clutchtwo-run triple into the left-centre field gap, giving the European champions a3-0 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 hitsand 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 thesixth with four consecutive hits, including a walk-off single by Koubova,finishing the game 11-4.