BASEBALL Preview: Japan tries for sixth straight women’s Baseball world title

The seventh edition of the women’s Baseball World Cup is underway in Viera, Florida, with Japan looking for its sixth consecutive win in the biggest tournament in women’s baseball.

This is baseball, not softball, and Japan has won the World Cup in 2008-10-12-14-16, beating the United States twice, Canada twice and Australia once. The Japanese stomped Canada, 10-0, to win in 2016 with Venezuela third and Chinese Taipei fourth.

The event is being held in the U.S. for the first time; the American team is the only other to win the World Cup, taking the title in the first two editions in 2004 and 2006.

In 2018, the initial play will be in groups:

∙ Group A: Chinese Taipei, United States, Korea, Venezuela, Netherlands, Puerto Rico
∙ Group B: Japan, Canada, Australia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Hong Kong

Round-robin play in the groups will continue through the 26th; the top three teams in each group will play in a “Super Round” with the top four playing in the Championship and Bronze Medal games on 31 August.

Look for results here.