Nail-Biter Game Leads Akron Past Beijing
July 17, 2017 - National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) News Release
Viera, FL- After the Saturday doubleheader, the Beijing Eagles (1-25) returned to the field to battle the Akron Racers (17-14) at the Space Coast Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Given an early lead and an almost impeccable defense, Shougang missed the duel with the Racers by a whisker, falling to the Ohio lineup, 2-1.
On the diamond, the Eagles defense collected 21 putouts to add to their defensive average of .948 and 522 putouts in 26 games played this season. Beijing also recorded 194 assists and seven double plays. Xi Kai Lin takes first place among the Eagles leaderboard for putouts with 78. Reigning in the Shougang leaderboard for defensive percentage, Sun Xun leads the Eagles with a perfect score of 1.000. Beijing shortstop Liu Li Li ranks first within the Eagles leaderboard for assists with 36, while standing fifth among the 2017 NPF leaderboard.
In the box, Xi Kai Lin led the Shougang offense, ending the outing with a 1-for-3 performance that drove in the only Eagles run. At the current time, Kai Lin holds a batting average of .269 with an on base percentage of .333.
Completing her 13th seasonal game, Lan Wang finished her fifth complete game collecting five strikeouts, to increase her seasonal record to 51. In the outing, Wang allotted no walks and six hits for two runs. Presently, Wang places first overall among the 2017 NPF leaders for strike percentage with a ratio of 70.9, the highest midst the NPF pitchers.
The Eagles kick started the game in its very first at bat, where Xi Kai Lin drove a single up the middle to push Liu Li Li home, putting Shougang on the board, 1-0. As both dugouts wrapped up the second, third and fourth with quick 1-2-3 frames, in the fifth an uncertainty by the Eagles left fielder allowed Akron to score one to tie the game up, 1-1. Entering the sixth with a one-run shortage, Akron struck again and batted in another runner to take the lead, 2-1.
As the bottom of the seventh came around, Shougang reached base with Yuan Huai Ning driving a single to left field followed by Liu Li Li, who snatched first on an error by the Akron third baseman. However, the Beijing lineup could not push its runners home and eventually fell to the Racers, 2-1.
Next up, the Eagles will face the USSSA Pride for a neutral site game at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on Monday evening. Dugouts will line up at 7:05 EST.
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