GIJANG, S. Korea – The Australian Emeralds presented by Boral fought back from an early deficit, but ultimately fell to Chinese Taipei 12-4 in their opening game of the LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016.
Three hits and two RBIs from Chelsea Forkin, and a pair of hits from Bronwyn Gell wasn’t enough, as Chinese Taipei’s runs came in bunches, scoring at least two runs every other inning.
Brittany Hepburn was given the honour of the first start of the Women’s World Cup for Australia, but was quickly in some trouble as Chinese Taipei scored two runs in the opening inning.
Chinese Taipei tacked on another two runs in the third and lead by four, but after Bronwyn Gell roped a ball to right field and advanced Olivia Bannon to third, Chelsea Forkin stepped up to the plate and drove in Australia’s first run of the tournament.
Gell hustled home from third on the next play after an errant throw, and when Karina Connors’ sac fly scored Forkin in the same inning, the Emeralds only trailed by a run.
Chiao Yun Huang only gave up on earned run in 4.1 innings of relief for Chinese Taipei. Huang’s only earned run came in the fourth inning. Olivia Bannon claimed her first hit in national team colours, and when Gell split first and second with a ground ball, Bannon scampered to third. Chelsea Forkin again drove in Bannon, and in the blink of an eye the game was tied.
From there though, the defence from Chinese Taipei shone through, and a couple of big innings squashed the Emeralds rally.
The Emeralds next game of the Women’s World Cup sees them match up with Hong Kong (0-1) on Sunday at 6pm AEST.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Chinese Taipei
2
0
2
0
3
0
5
12
12
1
Australia
0
0
3
1
0
0
0
4
8
3