Venezuela beat Cuba at Asia-Pacific Secondary Field, Tainan; 5-2 win secures final round berth

WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Group Tainan: Game Report - Venezuela prevail against Cuba to clinch ticket for final round

Under the lights at Asia-Pacific Secondary Field on Thursday night, August 27, 2026, Venezuela opened its Group Stage campaign at the WBSC

RAXUS Women’s Baseball World Cup Group Tainan 2026 supported by CTBC with a 5-2 win over Cuba, building an early cushion and then leaning on pitching and defense to protect it.

Cuba briefly looked poised to strike first in the top of the opening inning when Eleyenni Estupiñan reached on a single and moved into scoring position on small ball, but Venezuela escaped without damage. The home side then seized control immediately in the bottom half, stringing together four consecutive productive swings against Adriana Carrazana Urquiza. Srishna Aranza opened the rally with a single, Gabriela Paola García followed with another hit, and Mariana del Carmen Natera drove in the first run with a single to right. Venezuela kept the pressure on with Yendez Cordero and Kimberly Caicedo bringing home two more runs, turning the inning into a 3-0 statement.

Cuba responded in the second by capitalizing on an error, and once again it was the lineup’s patience and short-game approach that created offense. Aylen García Cordovi reached on a throwing error, advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on Doris Fuentes Cruz’s sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 3-1. Venezuela answered with extra bases in the bottom of the inning as Stephany Suárez reached on an error and Aranza doubled to left-center, keeping the pressure on Carrazana Urquiza even without a big inning to match the first.

The game tightened further in the third and fourth innings, but Venezuela continued to make Cuba work. Natera delivered the biggest hit of that stretch with a triple to left in the third, showing the home lineup’s ability to turn quality contact into immediate danger. Cuba got another runner aboard in the third and added a single from García Cordovi in the fourth, but Venezuela’s defense limited the damage. Even when Yohelis Colina reached on an error and Victoria Heredia was hit by a pitch in the fourth, the Cuban bullpen and Venezuelan defense kept the inning from exploding.

Cuba made one last push in the fifth, as Estupiñan singled again and Maikelin Pérez added another hit to keep the inning alive. But Venezuela’s relief corps shut the door. María José Marcano Sandoval worked two scoreless innings in relief of starting pitcher Frandelis Solange García González, and Yendez Cordero finished the job in the fifth with a clean inning. For Venezuela, that support preserved the early advantage and allowed the home side to finish with control.

García González earned the win for Venezuela, while Carrazana Urquiza took the loss for Cuba. Yendez Cordero collected the save after Venezuela’s bullpen combined to hold Cuba scoreless over the final three innings. Offensively, Natera was the standout for Venezuela with two hits, a triple and an RBI, while Aranza also finished with two hits and a run scored. For Cuba, Estupiñan and Pérez each had two hits, but the visitors could not turn those chances into enough runs.

The momentum belonged to Venezuela from the first inning onward, and although Cuba twice showed life by putting runners on and manufacturing a run, the early three-run surge and steady relief work made the difference in a game that never fully slipped away but never got away from the hosts either.

RAXUS Women’s Baseball World Cup Group Tainan 2026 supported by CTBC

Venezuela used a decisive first inning and steady pitching to beat Cuba 5-2 in Group Stage play at the WBSC

RAXUS Women’s Baseball World Cup Group Tainan 2026 supported by CTBC. Cuba twice clawed within striking distance, but Venezuela answered with timely hits and clean relief work to close the game out at Asia-Pacific Secondary Field.