Photo: official site of the event

Havana, November 29 (RHC)-- Cuba will play for the pass to the super round of the XVII World Cup of Softball Auckland 2022, in New Zealand, during its last presentation in the preliminary stage, against the local team.

The Cuban team lost a luxury opportunity on Monday against the strong team from the United States, falling with a score of 8x4.

Cuba's pitching was not up to the level of previous days, as starter Alain Román allowed seven clean runs against the Americans. The Guantanamo native gave up five hits and gave away six tickets in just 3.2 innings of pitching, with four strikeouts.

When Gusbel Plutín came to his rescue, it was too late. The Cubans could not recover from the blow. The defense did not help much, especially due to an error by second baseman Wilfredo Sanchez in an ideal double play in the third inning, when the Americans scored four runs.

Until that moment, the game was tied at two. Then it was very difficult to come from behind, although they managed to score two more runs and avoid the knockout. This is key in view of a classification that could be decided by runs allowed and runs scored.

The third baseman of the Greater Antilles, Yesander Rodríguez, batted 4-4 and raised his average to 617, two of those hits were runs.

Pinar del Río's catcher and fourth in the lineup, Reinier Vera, scored his first hit in the tournament; starter Osvaldo Rodríguez left the stadium, as did American Jonathan Michael Lynch.

For the winners, the work of Cuban-American Javier Caballero, who did not allow any runs and got the win, was outstanding. Bradley Kilpatrick got the save.

Leonardo Cardenas' students are third in the standings with a 2-2 record. Against the hosts they will try to get the third place in group A to the super round and thus improve on the tenth place achieved in the previous edition in the Czech Republic.