Wednesday, the U.S. Women’s National Team took on China in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group C Stage. Team USA took the win, 7-0, and solidified their spot in the 2027 World Cup Finals. The finals will be held in Redcliffe, Australia. Karlyn Pickens and Rachel Garcia combined for the no-hitter, and Maya Brady smashed three home runs, including the walk-off in the bottom of the sixth.
Pickens took the start for the U.S. and quickly retired the side in the first. She also tallied her first strikeout in the inning.
Jayda Coleman continued her hot approach at the plate. She came into the day 7-for-9 in this event and led off the bottom of the first with a double to left-center field. Then, Brady knocked a 260-foot, two-run home run, her third of the tournament, to put the U.S. up 2-0.
China’s Sun Yue struggled mightily and gave up two more runs in the inning. After Alyssa Brito walked and made her way to third, Tiare Jennings smashed a two-out two-run homer to make it 4-0. The first inning would be the end of the line for Sun. Ding Xiaoyi took the ball to begin the bottom of the second inning.
In the bottom of the second with two outs, Brady launched her second home run of the game, a solo shot, to extend the U.S. lead to 5-0. That was the only run of the inning for the U.S.
Pickens kept working the zone. Li Xintian reached on an error to lead off the top of the third. He Xiaoyan reached on a walk to put two on with no outs. The U.S. pitching staff came into the day with no runs allowed in five games, and China threatened that. Pickens responded with back-to-back-back strikeouts to leave both runners stranded. Pickens was fired up as she tallied her fourth K of the game.
After China escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third, which saw Kayla Kowalik record her second hit of the game, Rachel Garcia took the circle for Team USA. Garcia began her outing with a strikeout and went on to retire the side in order, with her second strikeout of the inning to conclude it. Then, in the top of the fifth, Garcia recorded another flawless inning, adding two more strikeouts.
Team USA dominated with pitching and defense all event, and Wednesday was no different. Garcia was dominant in her relief outing, and in the top of the sixth she tacked on two more strikeouts to move her total to six.
Scoring had been in a drought since the U.S. scored five in the first two innings. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Garcia reached on a one-out walk. Janae Jefferson pinch-ran and made her way to third with two outs. That brought up Brady, who smashed her third home run of the game for the walk-off.
