2018 Women's Softball World Championship

2018 Women's Softball World Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Dates	2–12 August 2018 (2018-08-02 – 2018-08-12)
Teams	16 (from 5 continents)
Venues	4 (in 4 host cities)
Defending champions	United States (2016)
Final positions
Champions	United States (11th title)
Runner-up	Japan
Third place	Canada
Fourth place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Games played	73
Attendance	44,990 (616 per game)
Best batting average	Meng-Ting Lai (.526)
Most homeruns hit	Yu Yamamoto (6)
Most stolen bases	Britt Vonk (6)
Best ERA	Danielle Lawrie (0.45)
Most strikeouts (as pitcher)	Dalla Escobedo-Gosch (61)
← 2016 World Championship 2024 World Cup →

The 2018 Women's Softball World Championship was an international softball competition held in Chiba, Japan, from 2 August to 12 August.^[1][2] It was the 16th edition of the tournament, and the third edition to be sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Previous editions were sanctioned by the International Softball Federation, which governed the sport until its 2013 merger with the International Baseball Federation to create the WBSC. As the winners, the United States earned the right to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[3] It was the last world title awarded under the championship format before the WBSC implemented the new world cup 4 year cycle.^[4]

Qualification

Origin	Berths	Qualified
Host nation	1	Japan
Oceania	2	Australia,  New Zealand
Europe	3	Netherlands,  Italy,  Great Britain
Americas[5]	5	Canada,  Mexico,  Puerto Rico,  United States,  Venezuela
Asia	3	Philippines,  Chinese Taipei,  China
Africa[6]	2	Botswana,  South Africa

Venues

Narashino	Narita Narashino Chiba Ichihara		Narita
Akitsu Baseball Field			NASPA Stadium
Playoff Round
Chiba			Ichihara
Zozo Marine Stadium			Zett. A. Ball Park

Competition format

The teams are separated into two groups of eight teams each for the preliminary round. Each group plays a single round robin. The top four teams in each group advance to the championship round, while the bottom four teams play in placement games. The championship round is played in a double Page round.^[7]

• Preliminary Page (two sections)
  • Minor semifinals: Third- and fourth-place teams play (A3 vs. B4, B3 vs. A4). Winners advance to Preliminary Page final, losers eliminated.
  • Major semifinals: First- and second-place teams play (A1 vs. B2, B1 vs. A2). Winners advance to Championship Page major semifinal, losers play in the Preliminary Page final.
  • Finals: The minor semifinal winners and major semifinal losers play. Winners advance to the Championship Page minor semifinal, losers eliminated.
• Championship Page
  • Minor semifinal: Winners of each Preliminary Page final play. Winner advances to Championship Page final, losers eliminated.
  • Major semifinal: Winners of each Preliminary Page major semifinal play. Winner advances to Championship Page grand final, losers play in the Championship Page final.
  • Final: The minor semifinal winners and major semifinal losers play. Winner advances to Championship Page grand final, loser finishes in third place.
  • Grand final: The major semifinal winner and final winner play. Winner is the champion, loser is second place.

The games were played with the 15/10/7 run ahead mercy rule where a game was called if one team leads the other by 15 runs or more after 3 innings, 10 runs or more after 4 innings, or 7 runs or more after 5 innings have been played.^[7]

Group stage

Group A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	United States	7	7	0	1.000	—	Qualification to Playoff Round
2	Puerto Rico	7	6	1	.857	1
3	Mexico	7	5	2	.714	2
4	Netherlands	7	3	4	.429[a]	4
5	Chinese Taipei	7	3	4	.429[a]	4	Advance to Placement Round
6	New Zealand	7	2	5	.286[b]	5
7	Philippines	7	2	5	.286[b]	5
8	South Africa	7	0	7	.000	7

Games

Date	Home	Score	Away
3 August 2018	South Africa	0–21 (4)	Chinese Taipei
	United States	5–2	Mexico
	Puerto Rico	6–5	Netherlands
	Philippines	10–0 (4)	South Africa
	New Zealand	4–7	Chinese Taipei
4 August 2018	Puerto Rico	9–0 (5)	South Africa
	Philippines	0–2	Mexico
	Chinese Taipei	0–7 (5)	United States
	New Zealand	5–10	Netherlands
	Puerto Rico	3–0	Philippines
5 August 2018	Netherlands	0–11 (4)	United States
	Chinese Taipei	11–12	Puerto Rico
	Netherlands	4–5	Philippines
	Mexico	8–0 (5)	South Africa
	United States	7–0 (5)	New Zealand
6 August 2018	Puerto Rico	9–0 (6)	Mexico
	South Africa	0–6	New Zealand
	Netherlands	6–5	Chinese Taipei
	Philippines	0–12 (4)	United States
7 August 2018	Puerto Rico	4–1	New Zealand
	Chinese Taipei	9–7	Philippines
	Mexico	1–0	Netherlands
	United States	7–0 (5)	South Africa
	Mexico	1–0	New Zealand
8 August 2018	United States	8–1 (5)	Puerto Rico
	Chinese Taipei	3–4	Mexico
9 August 2018	South Africa	1–11 (5)	Netherlands
	New Zealand	2–0	Philippines

Group B

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Japan	7	7	0	1.000	—	Qualification to Playoff Round
2	Australia	7	5	2	.714[a]	2
3	Canada	7	5	2	.714[a]	2
4	Italy	7	4	3	.571[b]	3
5	China	7	4	3	.571[b]	3	Advance to Placement Round
6	Great Britain	7	2	5	.286	5
7	Venezuela	7	1	6	.143	6
8	Botswana	7	0	7	.000	7

Games

Date	Home	Score	Away
2 August 2018	Japan	9–0 (6)	Italy
3 August 2018	Australia	7–1	Venezuela
	Canada	7–0 (5)	Great Britain
	Australia	0–1	China
	Venezuela	0–7 (6)	Canada
	Japan	20–0 (3)	Botswana
4 August 2018	Italy	2–3	Australia
	China	1–0	Great Britain
	Botswana	0–8	Venezuela
	Canada	1–0	Italy
	Japan	5–0	China
5 August 2018	Italy	8–0 (5)	Botswana
	Australia	2–0	Canada
	Venezuela	0–6	China
	Great Britain	0–6	Japan
6 August 2018	Australia	14–0 (4)	Botswana
	China	0–7 (6)	Canada
	Italy	1–0	Great Britain
	Japan	7–2	Venezuela
7 August 2018	Botswana	0–10 (4)	Great Britain
	China	15–1 (4)	Botswana
	Venezuela	1–3	Italy
	Great Britain	0–11 (5)	Australia
	Canada	0–2	Japan
8 August 2018	Canada	22–0 (3)	Botswana
	Italy	7–0 (5)	China
9 August 2018	Great Britain	5–2	Venezuela
	Japan	9–1 (6)	Australia

Placement round

	13th-16th Placement				11th-12th Placement				9th Place
	P1
	A5  Chinese Taipei	8(6)
					P5
	B8  Botswana	1
					Chinese Taipei	13
	P4
					Great Britain	11
	B6  Great Britain	2
									P7
	A7  Philippines	1
									Chinese Taipei	6
	P2
									China	4
	B5  China	3
					P6
	A8  South Africa	0
					China	8
	P3
					Venezuela	2
	A6  New Zealand	0
	B7  Venezuela	4

13th-16th Placement

11th-12th Placement

9th place

P7: 11 August 16:30 at Akitsu Baseball Field, Narashino

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Chinese Taipei	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	6	11	1
China	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	4	10	1
WP: An-Ju Chiu (3-0)   LP: Xinxing Zhao (3-3)   Sv: Su-Hua Lin (2) Attendance: 56 Boxscore

Playoff round

Preliminary Page System

Preliminary Semifinals

Preliminary Finals

Championship Page System

Championship Semifinals

Bronze-medal game

C9: 12 August 14:00 at Zozo Marine Stadium, Chiba

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Canada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	3
Japan	1	0	2	0	0	0	X	3	7	1
WP: Yukiko Ueno (6-0)   LP: Danielle Lawrie (5-1) Home runs: CAN: None JPN: Saki Yamazaki Attendance: 7165 Boxscore

World Championship Final

C10: 12 August 19:00 at Zozo Marine Stadium, Chiba

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Japan	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	6	12	0
United States	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	7	10	0
WP: Monica Cecili (5-0)   LP: Yukiko Ueno (6-1) Home runs: JPN: Yamato Fujita (2) USA: Delaney Spaulding Attendance: 11,168 Boxscore

Final standings

Qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics

Rank	Team
	United States
	Japan
	Canada
4	Australia
5	Puerto Rico
6	Mexico
7	Italy
8	Netherlands
9	Chinese Taipei
10	China
11	Great Britain
12	Venezuela
13	New Zealand
14	Philippines
15	South Africa
16	Botswana

External links

• Official Website

References