Well, the Japanese lived up to their reputation, and crushed the North American Liberty Belles 10-0. A disappointing end to an amazingly awesome tournament. The Far East Bloomers are a great team and they played a better game than we did.
There was a lot of nervous energy amongst the Belles before the game began. For many of us, this was the most important game of our baseball careers. I was pumped. I played shortstop all day. Defensively, I had a great game, but I wasn't able to deliver on offense. I went 0 for 4 with 2 ground outs and 2 pop outs. I was a little disappointed I didn't get to pitch against Japan, but in the end it wouldn't have mattered since we never scored any runs. Overall, our team only managed 3 or 4 hits all day.
Japan didn't get a ton of hits either, but they walked a lot, and scored many of their runs on passed balls/wild pitches. Each team had a couple of defensive errors but we were never able to capitalize on theirs.
Even though we lost, I am still proud of my team and I feel good about bringing home the silver medal. Considering the fact that the North American Liberty Belles had never played together before, we did darn good. Most of us had never met one another until we got to Hong Kong, whereas the Far East Bloomers have been playing together for years.
I love my new teammates and my new coach, and I know we have the potential to bring home the gold next year. We're going to play as a team in a few tournaments this year to prepare for the 2010 Phoenix Cup. By then, we should be polished and primed enough to bring home the gold!
Now that the tourney's over, I have a couple days to site-see. I'm looking forward to a fun, adventurous time in Hong Kong! When I get back to Chicago, I'll post more about my incredible tourney experience. Bye for now!
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