U21 World Cup: Final Day

On the final day of the U21 World Cup, several finale like games were played. First the game for the fifth and sixth spot in the final standings. Australia took on the Czech Republic. After four innings the Australians were leading 4-0 and the game seemed to be played. But not with this Czech team. In the top of the sixth the Czechs got on the board by scoring two runs. One inning later they turned the game around by scoring three more runs. The Aussies answered with one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but that was all they could. The Czechs stepped on it one more time in the ninth. With one out, Petr Sila drew a walk followed by single hit by Adam Hajtmar. Sila advanced to second and tried to reach third but was thrown out on the thrown from left field. With Martin Cervenka at bat, Hajtmar stole second and eventually scored on Cervenka’s single to left field. It looked like the Aussies were stunned by this because Ben Leslie was the only one who got on base. But he was forced out on a 1-6-3 double play one at bat later. Jared Cruz struck out swinging for the final out of the game. A major upset. The Czechs have beaten a team that contained minor league players only.

The bronze medal game wasn’t as exciting as the game for 5th and 6th place. Korea was too strong for Nicaragua. Not that the Asians outhit the Central Americans (11 hits for Korea and 10 for NIcaragua), but the Koreans hit more extra basehits. Final score 10-4.

And then the grand finale.
Where Japan made a statement yesterday by outhitting Taiwan yesterday, one would expect the Japanese to be stronger. Well… Not. It seemed that Taiwan fooled the Japanese yesterday. Today they scored nine runs against Japan. And Japan? None. Japan was outhit 13-4.
In an article on the website of the IBAF, Taiwan stated that they aimed to keep the cup in Taiwan. They succeeded with flying colours.