Australia go down in close game with Japan
We started the game in great style when Lyon led off with a single, and then backed up by hits from Shorto and Shiels, and we had taken an early 2 – 0 lead. But Japan responded with two runs of their own and the scores were tied at the end of the first.
Japan threatened again in the 2nd but Morris with a great catch, where he literally threw his body over the fence, ended the innings.
Then in the top of the 3rd Hayes, Shepherd and Morris hit consecutive singles to load the bases with none out. Shiels hit a ground ball to score a run, then Dale hit one off the left field wall to bring in another two and we had gone out to a 5 – 2 lead.
McCluskey was doing a good job on the mound but a costly error in the 4th saw the Japanese score and narrow our lead to 5 – 3. They then hit a solo home run in the 5th and it was a 5 – 4 in our favour after five innings.
We scrambled a run back in the 6th when a walk, an error and a Lyon single scored Fritsch and we were back out to a two run lead at 6 – 4. Brazier then came on to pitch for McCluskey who had given up just two earned runs in his five innings stint. The Japanese scored twice after bunching together a number of hits and the score was locked up at 6 – 6 after six innings.
Then with two out in the 7th, Japan again put together a number of successive hits to score three runs and take the lead for the first time in the game at 9 – 6.
To our boys’ credit, we fought back straight away when Shiels singled, Hoschke doubled, and then with two out, Hayes and Shepherd both got clutch hit singles and we had scored three of our own and the game was again locked up at 9 – 9.
Zahradnik took the place of Brazier for the bottom of the 8th. They got a lead off runner on, worked him around to third and he ended scoring on a squeeze bunt for Japan to retake the lead at 10 – 9. We were unable to score in the last and this was the final scoreline.
It had been one of those games where we appeared to be the better team. We certainly had hit the ball harder, and had outhit them, as well as having a lot of other hard balls hit straight at their fielders. They on the other hand had got a lot of “cheap” hits with bleeders and soft ground balls but, bottom line, we just couldn’t shut them down and they in fact scored in each of their five last innings. To add to our frustration is that Japan will be playing off for a medal and we know we can match it with the best of them.
We play our final game of the Championships tomorrow at 3.00pm against Venezuela.
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Date:
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26 August, 2011
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Tournament:
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AA World Championships
|
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Venue:
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Agosto Stadium,
Aguascalientes, Mexico
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AUSTRALIA
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vs JAPAN
|
|
|
Inn / Team
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
R
|
H
|
E
|
|
V
|
Australia
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
|
|
9
|
13
|
2
|
|
H
|
Japan
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
|
|
|
10
|
12
|
4
|
|
Bat
|
Australia
|
Pos
|
AB
|
Hits
|
RBIs
|
Walks
|
Stolen
Bases
|
Runs
Scored
|
|
1
|
C. Lyon
|
2B
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
2
|
A. Hayes
|
LF
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
|
3
|
Z. Shepherd
|
SS
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
4
|
M. Morris
|
1B
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|
5
|
B. Shorto
|
CF
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
6
|
T. Shiels
|
C
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
7
|
R. Dale
|
3B
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
8
|
K. Hoschke
|
RF
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
9
|
K.McCluskey
J. Fritsch
T. Maxfield
|
P
|
2
1
1
|
0
0
0
|
0
0
0
|
0
0
0
|
0
0
0
|
0
1
1
|
Pitchers
|
Australia
|
Innings Pitched
|
Ks
|
Hits
|
Walks
|
Runs
|
Earned Runs
|
|
K. McCluskey
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
|
L. Brazier
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
|
J. Zahradnik
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
