Australia have come agonisingly close to pulling off the upset of the Softball World Cup, giving the United States an almighty fright before narrowly going down.
In a thrilling defensive duel in Italy, the Aussie Spirit eventually went down 1-0 to the world No.1.
The Spirit went through their pitching ranks in an effort to unsettle the US hitters and it took an eighth inning tiebreaker to separate the teams.
Tamieka Whitefield led the Australian batting line-up and went behind in the count. After watching a second ball sail through to the catcher, Whitefield kept herself in it with a foul on the 2-2 count and earned a walk for her efforts to start Australia’s inning well.
Taylah Tsitsikronis and Shannon Keevers both made efforts to advance Whitefield but came up short.
Whitefield managed to steal second with Kylie Steemers at the plate but the Aussies were unable to convert against a US team that had yet to allow an opposition score from two games.
In the bottom of the eighth Georgia Hood remained in the centre for Australia, while Mia Davidson came in as the pinch hitter as the US looked to be aggressive. Davidson then earned a leadoff walk to put two on base for the US.
Nicole Bates advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, before Aubrey Leach was walked by Hood, loading the bases with one out.
Hannah Flippen needed just one pitch to find the single to left field allowing Maya Timmons to come home for the score to secure the hard-fought win for the United States.
After four games played, world No.9 Australia sit equal third with Taiwan with two wins and two losses.
With Ireland’s loss to Great Britain, Australia cannot finish lower than fourth, so Friday night’s game against No.3 Taiwan will serve as a preview of the third vs fourth semi-final that takes place on Saturday.
Great Britain and the US lead the standings.
