USA sweeps Women's Baseball World Cup group stage with combo no-no to advance to finals

The USA made it look easy. Playing in Rockford, Ill. -- the former home of the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (and just a few hours' drive from Springfield, Ill., where the Women's Professional Baseball League will begin this coming weekend) -- the United States blitzed its way through the Women's World Cup group stage to finish a perfect 5-0. Four of its five games were mercy rule, double-digit victories, wrapping up the week with a 34-0 combined no-hitter in a five-inning victory against Hong Kong on Sunday.

They were led by star Ashton Lansdell, who was named MVP of the tournament. The former Ole Miss softball standout has been a regular in MLB's HRDX campaigns (now known as MLBx), a viral star with the Party Animals -- part of the Banana Ball universe -- and will join the Los Angeles Queens in the WPBL. In Rockford, she was unstoppable: Lansdell hit .846 to set a new tourney record (minimum 10 at-bats), bashed two home runs, stole six bases -- including a steal of home after she had already stolen second and third on her trip around the bases -- and posted a 2.351 OPS.

"I was just trying to stay within myself," Lansdell told the WBSC. "I really wasn't trying to do too much. I trusted my training, trusted my teammates and my support system, and I carried confidence with me the entire week."

Lansdell helped the U.S. set a number of program and tournament records. Featuring a number of players who came out of the MLB Develops program, including Lansdell, Team USA hit .500 across the tournament, breaking the previous mark of .437 set by the 2016 Women's National Team. Team USA's 13 home runs were also program record, breaking the previous mark of 11 set by the 2019 Women's National Team, and its 20.4 runs per game were the highest mark in any international tournament since the start of the WNT in 2004.

Australia and Canada will also join the U.S. in next year's World Cup final -- also in Rockford -- after finishing second and third, respectively. Australia was particularly impressive in the tourney: They were the only nation to avoid a run rule loss to the U.S. and they upset Canada in a remarkable, back and forth 14-13 walk-off win on Sunday. Elodie O'Sullivan's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh (women's World Cup games are seven innings long) gave Australia 2nd place.

Both nations had already clinched spots, but that didn't make Sunday's action any less important -- whether for seeding or simply for pride.

"We obviously knew yesterday that we'd clinch," Australia manager Jason Pospishil said. "But today we were playing a game where we were representing our country and every game's important. I'm just so proud of my group and their attitude."

The teams will now wait to see which three teams will advance from the Tainan group that begins on Aug. 23. That tournament will feature Great Britain, Venezuela, the Philippines, Japan, Cuba, and Chinese Taipei.

Japan has won the last seven Women's World Cup finals stretching back to 2008 -- something the U.S. will try to change when they likely face off in Rockford next year.