Martin Simonsen and Jens Terkelsen homer as Denmark beat South Africa
A pair of 2-run home runs by Martin Simonsen and Jens Terkelsen helped Denmark to clinch a five-inning, 7-0 win over South Africa, in the first game of the day in Group B. Kim Hansen collected his first win of the tournament, with a 1-hit shutout. 

The European team scored the first three runs of the game in the third inning. Duncan Milne singled to lead off the inning, and Jens Terkelsen got his first hit of the game to put runners on the corners. Then Anton Brown hit a grounder to shortstop, Javier Frost gloved it but couldn’t make the play at home, allowing Milne score from third. Then Terkelsen crossed the plate with the second run of the match on a throwing error by catcher Matsobane Hlanga trying to catch Brown stealing second; and finally, the Danish right fielder scored on a sac fly by Frederick Terkelsen. 

In the bottom of the fourth Denmark put the game on the safe with a pair of 2-run homers. Martin Simonsen found a riser in the outside part of the zone for a 2-run home run. And then Jens Terkelsen crushed a pitch in the middle of the zone to make it 7-0. 

The winner of the game was Hansen, who flirted with the perfection, allowing only one hit over the contest, with no walks and 9 strikeouts. 

Denmark evens his record 1-1, and tomorrow will play against Venezuela at 13:30 local time. South Africa falls to 0-2 and will face USA in their third game of the event. 

BOXSCORE

Canada vs Netherlands 12:0 (7:0, 1:0, 2:0, 2:0)
This afternoon’s matchup between the countries of Canada and The Netherlands left the North Americans 2-0 while the Dutch fell to 0-2. This was Canada’s 2nd shutout in as many games. Their pitching staff is making quick work of their days. After defeating Denmark 7-0 in 5 on Day II, they took out The Kingdom 12-0 in 4 today. 

Devon Mccullough went the first 3.0 innings giving up a hit while striking out 8. Patrick Burns tagged in, in the 4th flagging two of his own. For the Dutch it was Wesley Blonk who took the hit giving up 8 earned runs off 6 hits in just 2.0 innings of work. Enio Kwas managed to keep his ERA to a slightly less painful level over the same number of innings, closing out with 4 earned runs off 6 hits and a strikeout to his credit. 

At the plate for Canada it was a whole lot of small ball, powered by some long distance shots, that broke this game wide open. In the top of the 1st both Stephen Mullaley and Tyler Pauli went deep but it was Tyler’s shot that hurt the most. While Mullaley brought along a friend on the bags, Tyler cleared them with a grand slam to right. The dingers didn’t stop there. In the top of the 3rd Bryan Abrey hit a solo shot to left before Blake Hunter went deep to the opposite field in the forth driving in two.

Mexico vs Czech Republic 2:3 (1:0, 0:0, 1:2, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 0:1)
It took just 2 full days of play for the WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship to go from shutouts to extra innings. In front of packed stands the Czech Republic faced off against Mexico. 

Mexico hopped on the board early scoring 1 in the top of the 1st. After seeing just 2 pitches lead off batter Lenny Villalvazo hung one out in right for a triple. Two pitches later, he scored on the ground out by Ismael Pena. In the 3rd they scored a second run and the Czechs came back to tie it up in the bottom of the inning with a little small ball of their own. By the time the 7th rolled around, nothing had changed so the boys went ahead and played another inning. 

Overtime rules put Patrik Kolkus on and Mexico chose to give David Mertl his base. Mikalas Klas’ bunted them up a base. A small chopper up the middle for Marek Maly brought Kolkus around to score ending the game 3-2 for the hometown fans.