They New Zealanders were well beaten 7-2 by a tough Venezuela side to wrap up the opening round of the Softball World Cup in Canada yesterday morning.
It was the Black Sox’ first loss of the tournament after they beat host nation Canada 8-3 at Prince Albert on the opening day Wednesday and downed world No 1 Argentina 4-1 on Thursday.
Both Venezuela and New Zealand finished with 2 wins and a loss, in group A.
Engelbert Herrera homered and drove in four runs for Venezuela and team-mate Kleiver also hit a homer for the winning side.
They did most of the damage in the third innings, where Venezuela collected four runs.
Venezuela pitcher Maiker Pimentel went the distance, giving up six hits and two runs while striking out 10. He collected his second win of the competition.
Thomas Enoka and Cole Evans homered for the New Zealanders’ only two runs of the game.
Pitcher Pita Rona, who pitched just over two innings, allowed three runs on three hits. — APL
