World No. 3 Puerto Rico shut out No. 1 USA to close Day 3 of the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup 2025 Super Round and qualify for the World Championship Final against No. 2 Japan.
Puerto Rico is now the only National Team to feature in the final of the 2023 and 2025 editions of the WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup.
It’s the first-ever win for Puerto Rico against USA in international softball. The North Americans hadn’t missed a Women’s Softball World Cup Final since the WBSC U-19 Softball World Cup 1985.
Defending champions USA will face No. 9 Mexico in the bronze medal game.
Mexico finished tied (1-3) with No. 4 Chinese Taipei and No. 8 Cechia, but prevailed thanks to the Team Quality Balance (TQB; runs scored / innings played at bat – runs allowed / innings played on defence) calculations.
The WBSC Executive Board approved the TQB to break three-way ties in softball events in May 2024.
Chinese Taipei had earlier defeated Mexico.
In the Placement Round, with Canada securing seventh place on Friday, Australia beat Italy and finished in eighth place. American Samoa defeated Singapore and earned 10th place.
All games are live on GameTime, the WBSC OTT platform
Super Round Games
Puerto Rico-USA 4-0
Puerto Rico shut out the United States and will compete in the World Championship Final against Japan.
Puerto Rico took the lead in the top of the second. Starter Braelyn Johnson walked Isabella Ortiz and Puerto Rico bunted her to third on two consecutive sacrifice bunts. Naima Melendez hit an RBI infield single to put Puerto Rico ahead.
With runners at the corners and reliever Lucille Reis pitching, a defensive error helped Puerto Rico add a run on Yazmine Johnson’s grounder to third.
Michaela Landers hit a one-out triple off Boricua starter Maya Melendez in the bottom of the third. Puerto Rico handed the ball to Isabella Ortiz to retire Ashley Bronowicz on a blooper to second base and Skyla Saito on strikes and end the threat.
Ortiz wouldn’t allow another runner. She added four perfect innings, retiring 12 batters in a row and striking out six.
Puerto Rico opened the score in the top of the seventh on a two-RBI double by Nylah Melendez.
Japan-Czechia 7-0
Japan defeated Czechia in five innings to earn their seventh consecutive win.
Czechia missed a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the third. Johana Slavikova singled off starter Juria Takahara with two outs and runners at second and first, but Sumira Tozuka got Katerina Slanska at home for the third out.
Marketa Svecova kept Japan scoreless for two innings. Juna Higashiyama singled off reliever Klara Dostalova to lead off the third, and Yui Yamamoto followed with an infield single, and leadoff hitter Rara Minato slapped the first pitch she saw over the centre fielder’s head for a two-RBI triple that put Japan ahead. Japan made it 4-0 on Mioka Mochizuki’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk. They added two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to end the game by the run-difference rule.
Chinese Taipei-Mexico 2-1
Chinese Taipei beat Mexico, but the one-run win won’t be enough to advance to the medal round.
Mexico scored first against Yu-Chieh Chao on a two-out RBI single by Raquel Pineda in the top of the second. Chinese Taipei got to Jimena Palacios with Shu-Jung Lin’s single in the bottom of the third.
Mexico failed to take the lead in the top of the sixth, hitting into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Chinese Taipei scored the winning run in the bottom half of the frame on Tsia-Chien Hou’s sacrifice fly.
Lu-Pu Jia-Ge De Le pitched 3.1 innings for the win.
Placement Round Games
Australia-Italy 4-3
Australia won a thriller against the hosts, Italy, to finish in eighth place.
The Aussie scored early against Sabrina Bottazzi and took a 3-0 lead into the fifth, when Italy got to starter Jamie Lau. Viola Masini doubled off reliever Jessica Middleton, and Italy added a run on an error.
The Azzurre tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Vittoria Nardini tripled and scored on a wild pitch.
Tazma McGuire scored Australia’s winning run on Ella Fretton’s infield single in the top of the seventh.
American Samoa-Singapore 6-5
American Samoa scored three runs in the bottom of the third and added three in the bottom of the sixth to defeat Singapore and finish in tenth place. Amari Davis and Amiyah Cook had two hits and two RBIs.
Singapore matched American Samoa’s hits (nine) and put the potential tying run at second and the potential winning run at first in the bottom of the second. Cadence Buscher struck out Nathania Daniel to end the game.
Canada-Spain 6-3
Canada closed their U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup with a win against Spain.
Spain scored first with Alicia Huerga against a struggling Rachel Clegg, who left with two runners on and one out in the top of the first.
Canada tied the game in the bottom of the first against Huerga and took the lead in the bottom of the third on a two-RBI triple by Rylee Kobasew and an RBI single by Amarah Hunter. Leah Rayson hit an inside-the-park homer in the bottom of the fifth.
Credit: WBSC