WBSC BBIC Day Two - Cuba ends GB’s hopes of a final appearance
Cuba proved too strong for GB in the second semi-final of the WBSC Blind Baseball International Cup and will meet defending champions Italy in Sunday’s final.
Nomaan Iqbal making a play in the field
It was the Cuban offense that made a difference in the 5-0 win and set up a mouth watering clash for the Gold medal between two sides who finished 6-6 in a tied group game on Friday.
Maikel Sanchez starred for the impressive Cubans with three hits and was supported by Maikel Ruiz and Yaniel Torres who had four hits between them.
GB had reached the semi final with a dramatic 7-6 win over USA with Ray Clements’ single scoring Albert Hayles.
Clements, Hayles and Matt Cliff were dominant with the bat in hand with 11 hits and four RBI between them.
Jordan Hayles in action against Cuba
Italy edged past Pakistan in the first semi final winning 2-0 in extra innings in a game dominated by the fielding of both sides.
Both teams completed a double play each in the lead up to the dramatic finale.
Fabio Tromboni singled with runners placed on second and third and scored Giuseppe Tocco to break the deadlock before scoring himself with two outs.
The Italian double play in the bottom of the sixth ended Pakistan’s effort and sent the Italians into the final.
The day began with Pakistan continuing to impress with 7-0 victory over Hungary and Cuba’s bats displaying real quality in their 8-0 win over China.
Italy beat Netherlands 7-2 in the final Group B game but despite the victory finished second to Cuba on total quality balance calculations.
The placement games saw The Netherlands show some form and claim 7th place with a 9-0 win over Hungary.
“We had a difficult start to the tournament with players feeling very nervous and then we faced the hard hitting Cubans,” said Jack Heuts, manager of the The Netherlands team. “We had a very good game in a loss against the Italians but it was fantastic for the players to end on a high with a good win.”
The USA made up for their disappointment of the loss to GB with a 7-2 victory over China to claim 5th place.
The battle for bronze between GB and Pakistan gets underway at 9.00 am Sunday and will be followed at around 11.30 by the Gold medal clash between Cuba and Italy.
All games are being live-streamed here https://www.youtube.com/@WBSC
All the results, box scores, standings and stats can be found on the WBSC site https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-blind-baseball-international-cup/schedule-and-results
Photographs from Farnham Park are available here https://www.flickr.com/photos/wbsc/albums/
An explanation of blind baseball and its rules can be found here https://bit.ly/4elMFfk
