WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Group B Day 2: Cuba beat South Africa 10-3; South Africa v Puerto Rico to start at 15:10; He gives China win against the Netherlands to remain unbeaten

After yesterday's exciting opening to the WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Group B tournament in Valencia, Spain, day two promises more thrilling action with four games on the agenda.

The Netherlands take on China in the opening game followed by Cuba against South Africa with the Africans backing up again straight after against Puerto Rico before Spain plays Cuba in the evening game.

With the Netherlands v China thriller finishing at 12:30, the second game between Cuba and South Africa, originally scheduled for 12:30, started at 12:50. And with Cuba and South Africa finishing at 14:40, the start time of South Africa v Puerto Rico has changed to 15:10.

Day Two Schedule
Netherlands v China 4-5 Box Score/Play by Play Highlights
Cuba v South Africa 10-3 Box Score/Play by Play On Demand
South Africa v Puerto Rico 15:10 new start time
Spain v Cuba 18:00

• On day one, Cuba beat the Netherlands in the first game of the tournament before China beat tournament favourites Puerto Rico and Spain beat South Africa. Full Schedule/Results
• Min Ren hits first home run of tournament
• Great media coverage of the tournament including on major Spanish sport's paper Marca.
• Group B in Valencia, Spain sees the hosts, ranked 12th in the world, welcome No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 10 Netherlands, No. 11 China, No. 28 Cuba and No. 38 South Africa from 18-22 July. See Preview
• Valencia ready to welcome the world
• 12 players to watch
• By the Numbers
• Photos
• Watch Live on GameTime.Sport

Cuba v South Africa

Due to the late finish of the China v Netherlands thriller, the Cuba v South Africa game started at 12:50.

Cuba get on the board in the top of the second inning with Yanisleidys Casanova's triple to centre field scoring Rosangela Jardines and Lisaidy Samon before Casanova scores on a Elizabeth Robert ground out.

Top of the third and Yarianna Lopez triples to left centre to score Yillian Rondon before Lopez scores herself. A ground rule double by Maidelis Reyes to deep left field scores Rosangela Jardines who was on second. Casanova grounds out to second base Rachel Matsimela who fires over to Thandi Malebana at first but Lisaidy Samon still gets home to put Cuba 7-0 up in the top of the third.

But just as Cuba might have thought they had the game wrapped up with the run ahead rule in the fifth innings, and with veteran pitching star Anisley Lopez throwing thunderbolts, Ammaarah Larney scores South Africa's first run of the tournament to make it 7-1 after Cassandra Kalpens singled through to deep right field.

Two pitches later and there was more South African celebration with Shane Luyt's superb double to left field over the head of Jennifer Pocena scoring Rachel Matsimela and Cassandra Kalpens.

Wasn't long after that Yamerki Guevara was back in the Cuban pitching circle having claimed eight strikeouts and given up only one hit in the first three innings of the game.

Cuba added one more in the top of the sixth with Jardines' doubles to deep left field scoring Rondon on a Ground Rule Double while Lopez scored off a Pocena fly ball to right field to put Cuba up 9-3. Jardines also scored after a Casanova fly ball to right field just fell out of reach of Cassandra Kalpens, who looked to get a glove on it as she ran in to try and catch it.

In the end Guevara did the job and the game finished after six innings courtesy of the run ahead rule.

Netherlands v China

European champions the Netherlands take on China looking to bounce back from yesterday's opening 4-3 defeat to Cuba while China are looking for their second win in two games after beating favourites Puerto Rico 2-0.

Like yesterday's opening games, another fantastic game on the cards with great defence with both pitchers working themselves out of trouble.

Brenda Beers breaks the deadlock in the top of the third as she squeezes home, with loaded bases, on a wide throw from Yue Xie at short stop to home, following a mis-hit from Cindy Van der Zanden.

The Netherlands score two more with Laura Wissink up next at bat. With the infield in close for the bunt, her blooper pops over second base, allowing Maxime van Dalen and Jessie van Aalst to get home. The Netherlands soon had loaded bases again but with Yuchen Wei replacing Yinan Chai in the pitcher's circle, she managed to keep the score at 3-0.

Seeing the Netherlands get on the scoreboard sparked China into action with Min Ren hitting the first home run of the tournament, a sweet swing over the left field fence to score Jiaqi Li and pull the game back to 3-2.

China take the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Jia Xu hits a ground ball past Britt Vonk at shortstop to score Zixuan Dong and Xiaoyan He as for the second game in a row, the Netherlands sees a lead disappear with China now ahead 4-3.

Top of the sixth and the Netherlands work their way to load the bases before van Dalen hits a group ball past Xie at second base to score Vonk. In the process of running from second and sliding into third base, Brenda Beers injured her leg and had to be replaced by Dinet Oosting at third. Annemiek Jansen takes Beers' place in left field.

China hit straight back with He hitting sweetly to centre field to score Zixuan Dong in the bottom of the sixth and that was enought o win it for China, their second win from as many games while the Netherlands have lost both their opening games having given up a lead in both contests.

Pregame

The weather, while not reaching the peak of 33 degrees, at 32° most of the day will continue to be a factor in today's play.

Great coverage from the opening day's play of the tournament including in the dedicated Spanish sport's paper Marca.

• Where to watch
• First time that Spain, like Ireland and Italy, hosts a WBSC tournament.
• New sustainable Mizuno ball - the M170 - in play.
• Six teams participating in three groups. Top two teams from Group B “punch a ticket” to the Finals next year. Learn more about the tournament format here.
• USA and Australia advance to Finals 2024 after finishing first and second in Group A in Ireland. Great Britain finished third. Check out the Group A review.
• Group C in Castions di Strada and Buttrio, Italy sees world No. 2 and Olympic champions Japan, No. 5 Canada, No. 8 Italy, No. 26 Philippines and No. 29 New Zealand in action from 22-26 July.
• First time the new two-stage format is being used in a WBSC tournament.
• WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Full History
• XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Finals to be played in July 2024 in Italy