Team USA disappoints at Women's Baseball World Cup with fourth place finish

The United States women's baseball team fell in extra innings to Team Canada 8-5 in Friday's bronze medal match at the Women's Baseball World Cup in Viera, Florida. Team USA had been bumped from the championship game into the third-place match, which is determined by total Super Round victories, after No. 6-ranked Chinese Taipei's unexpected victory over No. 2-ranked Canada on Thursday.

The American team trailed Canada by a single run after the fifth inning, but a double by USA first basewoman Malaika Underwood in the bottom of the seventh tied the game up. The match then went to extra innings — women's baseball only plays seven frames — with Canada earning five runs in the top of the 10th inning, including one on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. The Americans failed to muster the hits to catch up.

Team USA had a final World Cup record of 6-3, losing previously only to Chinese Taipei and Japan, who will play each other for the championship title on Friday night. The women's World Cup is held every other year, and 2018 marks the second tournament in a row that the American team has failed to medal.

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Underwood, who has played in six women's World Cups — including the last time the U.S. won gold, in 2006 — told The Week on Thursday that "in terms of the competition, the level of play, every year continues to get better. There are more and more countries that are competitive ... It's fun to watch that." Read about the scariest player in the tournament here at The Week, and watch the game in full below. Jeva Lange