China ended Canada's three games winning streak to rank second in Pool A for playoffs with a 1-0 victory on Saturday at women's softball World Championship.

China will play against Japan, who top Pool B, in their first playoff game on Sunday.

Both teams played a defensive game without error all through the game. China grabbed the sole scoring chance to win by turning their only hit into a run against Canada's four hits and no run in the game.

China nabbed the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning to hold till the end of the game. Zhou Yi ran to the second base on Yu Yanhong's sacrifice bunt after walking off Robin Mackin and then reached home plate on Lu Wei's RBI single, the only hit for China in the game.

In the top seventh, Angela Lichty hit a double after Lu Wei struck out two. The third batter Alison Bradley hit three foul balls in a row on 3-balls and 2-strikes to push the game into pivotal point. Finally Zhou Yi quickly fielded Bradley's ground ball and threw it to Yu Yanhong for the final out to ensure China the win.

China suffered their only loss to defending champions the United States in 2-0 on Friday in round-robin preliminaries.

"I think we all played quite well today. We performed actively in offence and defense and won a score in the first inning. With one run in hand, we put pressure on our rivals. Canada did not show their full competence today," starting pitcher Lu Wei said.

"It was a big challenge to me (in the seventh inning). If I didn't have a pitch with quality, we wouldn't win. This victory should be credited to our teammates since we trust each other," added she.

China's coach Michael Bastian was quite satisfied with the result and his players. "Exciting! It was a great international softball game. First I have to thank to Canada's coach because they did a very good job in this game. You have to ask Lu Wei some questions because she pitched a great game for us. As we all know we had some opportunities and we got a score in the first inning, so we are very happy to get the victory," said Bastian.

"We worked very hard for more than a year to get prepared for this tournament. And we had played more than three games in one day before. So I think we have no problems to play two games on Monday. I worked very hard to keep Lu Wei, Li Qi healthy. And my biggest goal is to give this younger players chances and experience and also rest. And we asked our pitchers to have a rest tomorrow."

"I remembered when I was watching the Chinese National team in the past years and I felt disappointed with the pitching staff. When I got here working with the team, I was working on our hitting. And then I was training the pitching skills. I believed we have built a very strong pitching staff such as Lu Wei, Li Qi, Zhou Yin and Yu Yanhong. I can not tell how good I believe they are," Bastian explained.

"She (Zhang Ai) did well in defending today. She has been doing well since I came here to be the coach."

"We are looking forward to the next game."

Canada coach Sippel Lori Anne was depressed by losing the chance to rank in pool second. "We felt disappointed about it and we will focus on tomorrow's game," said Anne.

"She (Lu Wei) had a very good speed. It is hard for us."

Source: Xinhua