23rd-ranked New Zealand and 7th-ranked Australia qualified for the group stage of the Women’s Under-18 Softball World Cup by finishing first and second respectively in the Oceania qualifiers. WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup at Tony Soleida Field Tafuba, USA. Samoa.
New Zealand lost to Australia (4-3, 5-3) and American Samoa (18-3, 5-4) in the three-team tournament. Australia defeated American Samoa (12-5, 14-0) to improve their record to 2-2.
The last day’s play was canceled due to bad weather.
Australia’s Lakeya Jackson was 7-for-11 with a .636 batting average and was the leading hitter. Her teammate Abby Bastian and New Zealander Kaia Ratu hit the only home runs of the contest. Radu and Australia’s Abby Purvis led the RBI with seven each.
Mackenzie Bailey-McDowell led all pitchers. He started both games against Australia and did not allow a run in 10.2 innings pitched. He got success. Bailey-McDowell allowed 13 hits and struck out nine. Charlotte Graham of the team led the competition with 13 strikeouts after pitching five scoreless innings to win the first game against Australia.
The WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage will feature 18 teams divided into three groups. Dates and venues will be announced later.
Eight national teams have already qualified.
Africa (2)
USA (5)
Asia (3) No. 2 Japan, No. 5 Chinese Taipei, No. 11 China
Europe (3) No. 10 Czechia, no. 8 Italy, no. 17 Ireland
Oceania (2) No.23 New Zealand, no. 7 Australia
wild cards (3)
The next edition of the WBSC U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup will count as the 15th edition of the Cadet Women’s Softball World Cup. The International Softball Federation (ISF) started the World Junior Women’s Softball Championship in 1981 and has held 12 editions. The tournament remained in the U-19 age group, but changed its name to the U-19 Softball World Cup in 2019. The age group was changed to U-18 for 2020 and was held in Lima, Peru in 2021.
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