Japan entered the 2018 women’s Baseball World Cup as the five-time defending champion and they are going to get a chance to make it six.
Japan sailed through the Super Round playoffs to reach the championship game with wins over the U.S. (3-0), Chinese Taipei (2-1) and Venezuela (10-0). They will play the only team to really challenge them, Chinese Taipei, which defeated the Dominican Republic (2-1) and Canada (6-4) in the Super Round.
How dominant have the Japanese been? In their seven games, they have outscored their opponents by a 49-4 count and have not yielded more than one run in any game!
The U.S., which finished second in its group to Chinese Taipei, overcame its opening Super Round loss to the Japanese and defeated Canada (5-1) and the Dominicans (8-1) to get to the bronze medal game. The American squad will face Canada again.
The event is being held in the U.S. for the first time, in Viera, Florida, which has seen its share of weather problems and delays.
Japan 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.
Look for results here.
