GIJANG, S. Korea – An absolute clinic on the mound from Emeralds debutant Abbey Kelly backed up by some red-hot offence sealed a famous victory by the Australian Emeralds presented by Boral, who defeated the USA Women’s National Baseball Team 10-2 at the LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016.
In her debut game at the Women’s Baseball World Cup, 17-year-old Kelly dominated a world class USA line-up, to keep the Emeralds chances at the Women’s World Cup alive.
Australia needed to win by five runs or more against the #2 ranked USA team to qualify for the Super Round, and when Leslie Anglin drove in Kim McMillan in the fifth to extend the lead to five, Australian baseball fans everywhere were daring to dream.
The USA drew first blood early as Malaika Underwood’s RBI triple saw America take an early 1-0 lead. That lead was quickly taken care of by the Emeralds offence with an RBI from Tahnee Lovering and Tammy McMillan’s two-RBI single giving Australia a 3-1 lead after one.
From there, Kelly kept the American hitters off balance and some quality defence ensured that the USA was kept to their solitary run for the first six innings.
After pouring on 13 runs against Hong Kong yesterday, the Australian Emeralds offence again showed no mercy, with Tammy McMillan ending up going 2-for-3 with four clutch RBIs. Bronwyn Gell also hit well in the leadoff spot, claiming two hits and two RBIs on the day.
An opening game loss to Chinese Taipei meant Australia had their backs against the wall, but some inspiring play ending with one of the most famous victories in Australian Baseball history sealed the Emeralds spot in the super round and kept their quest for a medal alive.
The Emeralds next opponent at the Women’s World Cup is yet to be decided, but they’ll take to the field again on Wednesday in Korea.
Check out all of the stats from today's game here.