Havana, August 13 (RHC)-- The Cuban women's baseball team lost Friday by an 11-1 knockout against Puerto Rico in the debut of the pre-World Cup tournament, held at the Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro Stadium in La Guaira, Venezuela.

Havana, August 13 (RHC)-- The Cuban women's baseball team lost Friday by an 11-1 knockout against Puerto Rico in the debut of the pre-World Cup tournament, held at the Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro Stadium in La Guaira, Venezuela.

The women, coached by Jorge Luis Pimienta, were dominated throughout the game by the strong right-hander Janiliz Rivero, who allowed only two singles in seven innings and, although she allowed four tickets and hit two balls into the anatomy of starter Libia Duarte, she got out of the difficult moments with six strikeouts.

Puerto Rico won the game in the very first inning, in which they scored three runs against Mayumis Solano, who was hit with three hits, including a run-scoring double by Rivero, for whom mentor Carlos Ferrer did not use a designated hitter and placed her as fifth in the lineup.

The Puerto Rican team hit 12 hits, while Cuba scored in the fourth inning without a hit; but the versatile starter Duarte, who in that episode was hit by a pitch from Rivero, stole second and then third, and in a continued play scored on a throwing error by catcher Jenny Ortiz.

"This was a tiebreaker game, because we faced each other twice in the Caribbean Cup in the Dominican Republic (June) and there was a division of honors," the Puerto Rican mentor told ACN, who predicted another encounter between the two teams in the current event, either in the semifinals or in the final.

Meanwhile, Pimienta said that the pitching was not good during the day and, although only two hits were made, he clarified that many of the good connections came from the front.

Today, the Cubans will face the Dominican Republic, which lost 5-8 against Mexico the day before.