By TONY SMITH
The Black Sox get their chance for revenge when they clash with world softball champions Australia in Auckland.
New Zealand wrapped up their round-robin campaign tonight with a 7-0 five-innings win over the Philippines.
Experienced outfielder Thomas Makea batted in three runs off two big hits.
The Black Sox racked up six runs in the fourth inning with some controlled, opposite-fielding hitting.
The two transtasman rivals will meet in the first round of the world championship playoffs at Albany.
Australia, who beat the Black Sox in the 2009 world championships final in Canada, ended section play yesterday as the only unbeaten team at the 16-nation tournament after they beat the Czech Republic 8-2.
They showed their enviable pitching depth with No 3 hurler Adam Humble snaring 13 strikeouts and giving up just three safe hits.
But the West Australian is unlikely to see much game-time in the playoffs.
Australian coach Bob Harrow is almost sure to use his ace, Andrew Folkard, against the Black Sox with left-hander Andrew Kirkaptrick as his back-up.
Diminutive outfielder Cameron Bint and Nathan Jones each had two hits for Australia with Bint and Jeff Goolagong slugging triples.
Canada consolidated their place as number one seed from Pool A where they finished level on points with the Black Sox.
But the Canadians took top billing because they beat New Zealand 9-7 in a 26-hit slugfest last Monday.
Jeff Ellsworth underlined his reputation as one of the biggest power hitters of the tournament with two home runs in Canada’s 7-0 five-innngs win over the Netherlands.
Stephen Mullaley also put the ball over the fence.
Canadian pitchers Jason Hill and Andy Skelton split 10 strikeouts.
But coach Don Bates is likely to turn to the more experienced Sean
Whitten, Paul Koert and Don Scott in the playoffs or Sean Cleary, who threw a perfect game against Colombia.
The Canadians will meet Pool A runners-up Venezuela tonight with the winner meeting the Black Sox or Australia tomorrow for an automatic berth in Sunday’s grand final.
Venezuela scored their sixth win in pool play, 8-0 over wooden spooners Indonesia.
Samoa finished third in Pool A after a 8-0 six-inning victory against South Africa.
Bernard Hale – brother of Black Sox batting star Donny and Kallan Compain clouted triples for the Samoans.
But Chris Kohlhase’s Samoan side faces a tough assignment this morning in a sudden-death playoff with Japan, who thrashed Mexico 13-0 yesterday.
The United States avoided the ignominy of missing the playoffs for the first time.
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They came from behind to beat Great Britain 4-1 yesterday to extend their winnng streak to four games after losing their first three matches.
But the Americans still aren’t in great batting form. They had only two hits against Great Britain but their pitcher,
Gerald Muizelaar, nabbed 12 strikeouts.
They will clash in a sudden-death playoff with Argentina, who only edged out South American rivals Colombia 1-0 yesterday in a game that featured 25 strikeouts.
Today’s results:
Pool A: USA 4 Great Britain 1, Venezuela 7 Indonesia 0, Samoa 8 South Africa 0, Australia 8 Czech Republic 2.
Final standings: Australia 7 wins-0 losses, Venezuela 5-2, Samoa, USA 4-3,
Great Britain, Czech Republic 3-4, South Africa 2-5, Indonesia 0-7.
Pool B: Argentina 1 Colombia 0, Canada 7 Netherlands 0, Japan 13 Mexico 0, New Zealand 7 Philippines 0.
Final standings: Canada, New Zealand 6-1, Japan, Argentina 5-2, Colombia 4-3, Mexico 2-5,
Netherlands 1-6, Philippines 0-7.
Tomorrow’s playoffs (Sat): 12pm: Samoa v Japan. 2.30pm: Argentina v USA.
5.30pm: New Zealand v Australia. 8pm: Canada v Venezuela.
(Last four named teams have two lives).
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