Solano (L) says that today she had good command of her breaks. Photo: José Luis López Sado

Havana, August 17 (RHC)-- The Cuban women's baseball team defeated Mexico, 7-2, on Wednesday in the last day of the qualifying phase of the pre-World Cup tournament held at the Jorge Luis García Carneiro stadium in the Venezuelan city of La Guaira.

Right-hander Mayumis Solano pitched all seven innings to the tune of six hits, two tickets and three balls.

The two runs were scored in the fifth inning when she allowed two singles, awarded a base, hit a delivery to Diana Ibarra with the angles congested and then Melody Cortés hit a sacrifice fly.

"I was not good and worked very little the first day against Puerto Rico, and then in relief against Venezuela; but today I had a good command of my breaks and I also used the outside straight line because they (the Mexicans) know how to pull the ball to their hand, as I could see in their games," Solano commented to the Cuban News Agency.

Before this match, Cuba was in last place in terms of collective offense (229), so mentor Jorge Luis Pimienta made several changes in the lineup and took advantage of it.

His pupils opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a pair of runs, on a bunt to third baseman and third baseman Odrisleisis Peguero, followed by an infield home run by designated hitter Roxana Cuello, who was moved up to the fourth inning today.

They then scored three decisive runs in the fifth act with three hits, including one by Peguero that towed two.

They closed with two more scores in the sixth inning with a balk, a base and a pair of hits, including the third of the game for captain and middle infielder Dayana Batista, who was on an offensive slump -she was 14-1-, but today went 4-3 with three RBIs.

For Pimienta's team, this was the third win of the tournament with two losses, and thus they secured their ticket to the 2023 World Cup, in addition to advancing to the semifinal phase to be played next Friday. Their opponent will come out of today's match between Venezuela (2-2) and Dominican Republic (1-3).

If the Venezuelans win, then those would be their rivals. But if the Quintana Roo win, they would have Mexico as their opponent.