Venezuela had some early momentum against the Australian Emeralds presented by Boral, and held on to defeat the Emeralds 7-4 at the LG Presents Women’s Baseball World Cup 2016.
Australia needed to defeat Venezuela by six runs or more to seal qualification in the Bronze Medal Game, but an offensive explosion from Venezuela in the first inning made it tough for Australia to gain momentum.
Venezuela’s pitching was conducive to groundballs, and it showed, with three of the first four Australian innings ending via the double play.
Despite falling behind early, The Emeralds continued to put pressure on Venezuela, culminating in a four run seventh inning, but ultimately, the damage was done.
Shae Lillywhite managed to pick up two hits and an RBI for the Emeralds, while a hit in the 7th from Tahnee Lovering drove in another two runs.
Jacinda Barclay took the ball for The Emeralds, and despite giving up some runs early, continued to grind away and tossed four shutout innings in a row against a Venezuelan lineup which claimed twelve total hits.
That result sees Australia finish 5th at the 2016 World Cup, with Venezuela taking on Chinese Taipei for the bronze medal tomorrow afternoon. Japan match up with Canada for the title of World Champion tomorrow evening.