Australia has taken down Chinese Taipei with a solid display, pushing through an eight-hour mid-game rain delay to record a third-place finish in the Group Stage of the 2023 WBSC Women's Softball World Cup.

The Aussie Spirit scored two runs in the first and three runs in the third inning, while pitching duo Kandra Lamb and Kaia Parnaby kept Chinese Taipei off the scoreboard, limiting the opposition to six hits.

Fans of the Spirit were on edge after Yi-Ting Yang lead off with a single to start the game however the nerves settled as Australia retired the following three batters, leaving Yang on first base.

Tamieka Whitefield drew a walk to lead off the Spirit and didn't have to wait for long. Australia hit three consecutive singles, scoring two runs with one out after 5 at-bats.

Taylah Tsitsikronis kicked off the hitting, singling to left field, Kylie Steemers singled up the middle to score Whitefield and Jade Wall also singled to centre field to score Tsitsikronis.

A couple of quick outs in the bottom of the first didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the Spirit, who shortly thereafter were called from the field with heavy rainfall and wind putting an eventual eight-hour pause on the game.

The Spirit came out firing after the break, challenging the Chinese Taipei side with both bat and ball. Australia recorded hits and caught everything that came their way, threatening at every opportunity.

Georgia Hood's double to centre-right field in the third unearthed another rich vein of runs, with the South Australian rewarded by consecutive singles from Clare Warwick and Stacey Mcmanus to score. Shannon Keevers followed up immediately with a single to left field to load the bases before Tamieka Whitefield's third plate appearance yielded two runs: a passed-ball run for Warwick and a sacrifice fly scoring Mcmanus, putting the Spirit up 5-0. 

Chinese Taipei were unable to string their hits together, with the Spirit limiting the damage at all turns. The error-free Australians nabbed a double play in the fourth inning, catching everything on offer in the outfield and grinding out six strikeouts. 

The Australians' intent in the hitting box was reflected across the statistics too, with the team recording more walks than strikeouts as they took advantage of the tricky conditions. 

After the previous day's loss to the USA, the rebound win over Chinese Taipei will give them enormous confidence as they repeat the fixture in a play-off at 7:30pm tonight.

Scorecard:
TPE 0R 6H 0E
AUS 5R 9H 0E

Win: Lamb
Loss: Chen Chi
Save: Parnaby

Photo Credit: WBSC