Chinese women's national softballers gained their first victory
4-1 over Australia on Saturday after they initially beat their
opponent at Atlanta Olympics 11 years ago.
China made one run lead in the bottom third inning when
outfielder Zhou Yi's RBI single contributed to teammate's run.
Australia tied the game in the top fifth due to a wild pitch and a
ball missed from Chinese pitcher and catcher.
The Chinese rallied quickly in the bottom with a
triple, single and stolen before infielder Wu Di made a RBI
hit to resume the lead. Zhou Yi's second two-run hit
stunned the Australian.
In the first two meets with Australia, China surrendered 16-1
and 2-1. They have never defeated Australia since a 6-2 win at the
Atlanta Olympics where the Aussies finally got a silver medal.
China beat Chinese Taipei 4-0 on Saturday afternoon to acquire
the challenging meet with Australia who were broken a six
consecutive winning streak by Canada by 5-0 in the morning.
During the semifinal between Canada and Australia, Canadian
pitcher Danielle Lawrie secured scoreless seven innings with 12
strikeouts, allowing only two hits.
After two semifinals and the challenging meet, Australia and
Chinese Taipei ranked as third and fourth of the international
women's fast pitch tournament started on Tuesday.
China will meet Canada on Sunday evening for the champion and
the two teams tied in the two preliminary games.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)