Monday began with two of the four medal round contestants from 2008, Canada and Japan, with Japan coming away the winner, 3-0 in 8 innings.
Monday ended with the other two medal round contestants from 2008 squaring off, in a battle for Oceania, with Australia edging New Zealand, 6-5 in 8 innings. Australia notched a run in the first and led 1-0 through the first two frames. New Zealand hung on a 5 spot on Australia in the third inning, and looked to be on their way to handing 4-time gold medalist Australia their first loss of the 2012 tournament. But Australia battled away, scoring two in the 5th to cut the lead to 5-3, then two more in the 6th to tie the game at 5, and sending it into the international tie breaker. Australia pushed across a run in the top of the 8th and retired the New Zealand side in the bottom of the 8th for the win.
Australia joins host Argentina and Team USA as the only unbeaten teams in the tournament. Japan and New Zealand have one loss each, while Canada has two. (to Argentina and Japan).
Team USA has the toughest schedule remaining, with New Zealand on Tuesday and Australia on Wednesday.
With four teams from each pool qualifying for the playoff round, it’s shaping up like this:
Pool A (Record and games remaining)
Australia (4-0) – Venezuela and USA
USA (4-0) – New Zealand and Australia
New Zealand (3-1) – USA and Singapore
Venezuela (2-3) – Australia
Denmark (1-4) – India
The fourth spot could get interesting:
Venezuela controls its destiny, but has to face 4 time gold medalist Australia in their lone remaining game on Tuesday night.
The edge would appear to be with Denmark, who could finish 2-4 with a win over India Wednesday morning. Denmark beat Venezuela in their head-to-head match.
Singapore could turn it into a three-way tie by upsetting New Zealand, but that would appear unlikely.
Denmark will know where they stand when they play their final game on Wednesday morning.
Pool B (Record and games remaining)
Argentina (4-0) – Mexico
Japan (4-1) – Czech Republic
Canada (3-2) – Mexico
Mexico (2-1) – Croatia and Canada
Aussie Colts come from behind to beat New Zealand in a thriller
6 November 2012
The Aussie Colts today proved they have the mental toughness to come from behind to beat the strong NZ Junior Black Sox 6 runs to 5 on Day 5 of the ISF IX Junior Men’s World Championship in Parana, Argentina.
It was a great atmosphere in Parana with plenty of loud Aussie and Kiwi fans supporting their respective teams. After being down 5-1 in the 4th innings, the Aussie Colts worked hard to claw their way back into the game and level it at 5-5 at the end of regulation innings. Aussie Colts left fielder, Ryan Sinclair hit what proved to be a game winning single in the top of the 8th innings to give the Aussie Colts a one run lead. A sensational diving catch by Nick O’Shea at 2nd base who then turned it into a double play in the bottom of the 8th shut the game down and gave the eventual win to the Aussie Colts.
After the game, Head Coach Gary Butler was thrilled with the all-round team performance of his team, however not losing sight that it is only a round robin game. Speaking from Argentina post game, Butler commented that after a 5 run 3rd innings by NZ to put the Colts behind, he reminded the team to fight hard, maintain discipline and never give up. “I reminded the boys that there was plenty of game left, all they needed to do was get one run an innings. I told them that they may be bleeding but nothing was damaged so keep fighting”. And fight the boys did, scoring 2 runs in the 5th and 6th innings to tie the game and then go on to victory.
While Butler is reluctant to make too big a deal of the win, he is happy with how the team is building over the past few games and the focus strongly remains on one game at a time. The team will aim towards the next game with renewed focus and discipline. This is the first real test for the Aussie Colts after cruising through the first couple of games of the championships, and they passed the test with flying colours. Some great individual performances was Sinclair and O’Shea, as well as relief pitcher, Nathan Dickinson, Jesse Taws and Marshall Kronk. Little separated the two teams, both giving up 8 hits a piece in a match that lasted over three hours. The Colts now move to 4 wins and 0 losses in the Championships.
Looking ahead to the remaining few round robin games, the entire Aussie Colts team is focussed on their own game and continually improving their own performances. Butler wants the boys to keep working on their mental approach to the game and be disciplined on the batting box. They will face a tough Venezuelan team tomorrow who earlier in the tournament went down to New Zealand 3-2.
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