With only one day to go in the Super Round at the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Finals 2025 in Prince Albert, Canada Japan lead the standings with a 2-0 mark, while Venezuela (1-1) dropped to second place along with New Zealand. USA (0-2) are in fourth place.
Koki Sato homered and Hiroki Ikeda pitched five quality innings for Japan leading the Asian champions to a key 5-1 win against Venezuela in their first Super Round game. In addition, New Zealand recovered from a 4-1 deficit to clinch a dramatic 5-4 win in spectacular fashion. Trailing 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Jerome Raemaki crushed a three-run no-doubter over the left field fence to walk it off.
With defending champions Australia not featuring in the Super Round, this tournament will crown a new men’s softball king. The last time a team could repeat as Men’s Softball World Champion was New Zealand in 2004, completing a historic three-peat (1996, 2000, 2004). Since then, four teams have won this competition: Australia (2009 and 2022), New Zealand (2013 and 2017), Canada (2015) and Argentina (2019).
Japan aim to win their third medal in this competition, and first ever World Championship. The Asian super power has reached the World Championship Final twice, in 2000 in South Africa and 2019 in Czechia, losing both times against New Zealand and Argentina respectively. In 1996, they won the bronze medal in Midland, USA.
Owners of seven, world championships, New Zealand are the most decorated team in the history of this competition. They won this event in 1976, 1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2013 and 2017. additionally, they have four silver medals and two bronzes for a total of 13 podiums. However, they failed to medal in the last two editions in 2019 (fourth place) and 2022 (eighth place).
USA own five world titles, second only to New Zealand. However, they lifted the trophy for the last time in 1988. In 2022, they finished in third place after a 22-year drought. They won the title in 1966, 1968, 1976, 1980 and 1988. Adding one silver and four bronzes, they total 10 medals in this event.
Venezuela is a two-time medal winner in this event, counting a silver medal in 2013 in New Zealand, losing the final against the host team, and a bronze medal in 2013 in Saskatoon. They also are looking for their first world title.
Meanwhile, in the Placement Round, Australia lead the standings with a 2-0 record after beating Argentina 7-5 in the first game of the day while hosts Canada, who beat the Dominican Republic in a come-from-behind 4-3 win, are tied with Argentina at 1-1 with the Dominican Republic at 0-2.
USA vs New Zealand – Super Round
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New Zealand recovered from a 4-1 deficit to clinch a dramatic 5-4 win in spectacular fashion. Trailing 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Jerome Raemaki crushed a no-doubter over the left field fence to walk it off. With the victory, New Zealand evened their record at 1-1, while USA dropped to 0-2.
USA built a 4-1 lead through the fourth inning, powered by an opposite-field home run from veteran infielder Erick Ochoa, a two-run single by Tyler Johnson, and an RBI single from Yusef Davis Jr.
New Zealand had tied the game momentarily at 1-1 on a line-drive homer to left field by Reilly Makea.
In the bottom of the sixth, Seth Gibson brought home Makea to cut the deficit to two. Then, in the seventh, with two outs and two runners on, USA pitcher Marco Diaz missed his spot — and Jerome Raemaki made him pay, crushing a three-run, walk-off homer to left field to seal a dramatic comeback win for New Zealand.
“To be fair, I can’t remember too much. I knew I hit it well. Everything was a bit of a blur. It was just going back to making sure I touched all the bases from there. Obviously, coming into that last inning, the boys were behind,” said Raemaki.
Venezuela vs Japan – Super Round
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Koki Sato homered and Hiroki Ikeda pitched five quality innings for Japan leading the Asian champions to a key 5-1 win against Japan in their first Super Round game.
Hiroki Ikeda started the game for Japan and pitched five strong innings, allowing three hits and one run with two walks against six strikeouts. He earned his third win of the tournament. “Everyone is full of joy, but we’re already switching our focus to tomorrow (against New Zealand on Saturday) and working hard for the next game,” said Ikeda after the game.
For Venezuela, Maiker Pimentel was charged with the loss after pitching four innings with five runs on five hits.
Australia vs Argentina – Placement Round
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Australia defeated Argentina, 7-5, and improved their Placement Round record to 2-0. Jack Besgrove pitched the seven innings for the Aussie Steelers, while Marshall Kronk, Scott Paterson and Ethan Field homered.
For Argentina, Federico Olheiser went yard in the bottom of the seventh. Argentina is now 1-1 in the Placement Round.
Dominican Republic vs Canada – Placement Round
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Two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a pair of sacrifice flies lifted Canada to a comeback victory against Dominican Republic, 4-3, to open Placement Round play. Blake Hunter and Ty Sebastian collected two RBIs each while Sean Cleary was the winning pitcher of the game.
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