Tiare Jennings Walks It Off in Extras, USA Advances to Gold Medal Game
Team USA came into today with a tough one against, Japan. The winner would advance to the Gold Medal game, while the loser would play for Bronze. Let’s get into the quick recap.
Japan opened with the game with back-to-back bunts, the first reaching on a throwing error. Rachel Garcia quickly shut it down, stranding the lead runner with two strikeouts.
Jayda Coleman led off with a single to left in the bottom half and came home on a Tiare Jennings two-run shot to make it 2-0. Jennings has been swinging a hot bat all tournament.
Garcia rolled through the second with two more strikeouts. Her mix was tough for Japan to track. In the third, she fell behind in a lead off count 3-0 before battling back for her fifth strikeout. After a walk, she struck out two more to keep Japan hitless and push her total to seven through three innings.
Janae Jefferson reached on an infield single in the third, and USA loaded the bases, but all three runners were left stranded.
Japan finally broke through in the fourth. After a walk and a pair of hits, they loaded the bases. Kudo popped out for the second out, but Hotaru Tsukamoto came through with a two-out, three RBI double to put Japan ahead 3-2.
Yukiko Ueno set the tone in the bottom half, striking out Flippen and Warren looking on the corners.
Garcia responded with two more strikeouts in the fifth, but Fujimori singled, stole second, and scored on a Naito RBI hit. Japan extended the lead to 4-2.
USA answered in the bottom half. Maya Brady singled, and Skylar Wallace drilled a two-run homer to right to tie it at four. Dejah Mulipola doubled to the wall, but Ueno worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout.
In the sixth, Garcia struck out her 11th batter and stranded two runners to keep the game even. Japan went to Miu Goto, who allowed singles to Jefferson and Coleman but escaped with a strikeout of Jennings.
Neither side scored in the seventh, sending the game to extras.
With the tiebreaker rule in effect, Japan pushed across a run on a fielder’s choice to lead 5-4. Garcia exited after 7.1 innings with four runs on five hits, three walks, and 11 strikeouts. Kelly Maxwell came in and after Japan loaded the bases, she stranded them to keep things manageable for Team USA.
In the bottom half, Mulipola started on second. Lorenz popped out and Flippen flew to left, but Mulipola advanced to third. Jessi Warren drew a walk, and Carda came in to run. Janae Jefferson then singled to right to score Mulipola and tie the game at five. Coleman walked to load the bases, but Jennings grounded out to third, sending the game to the ninth.
Maxwell shut Japan down in the ninth, giving USA another chance. Jennings began on second, Brady popped up a bunt, and Wallace moved her to third with a groundout. Mulipola had a chance to win it but grounded out, sending the game to the tenth.
Naito began the 10th on second and was moved over on a sac bunt by Sakamoto. She came around to score on an RBI fielder’s choice by Kiriishi, giving Japan a 6-5 lead.
Team USA came right back. Mulipola started on second and advanced on a Lorenz groundout. Goto worked the corners but struggled with command.
Hannah Flippen stayed patient until she put one in play. What looked like a routine pop up dropped in, allowing Mulipola to score and tie the game at six. Jessi Warren followed with a single past first, putting runners on first and second with one out.
Jefferson advanced both with a groundout, setting the stage for Jayda Coleman. Goto pitched around her and walked her on four pitches to load the bases.
That brought Jennings up with the game on her bat. She delivered, lining an RBI single to score Flippen and send Team USA to the Gold Medal game against Chinese Taipei with a 7-6 walk-off win in 10 innings.
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