Oakland's  Tamara Holmes first Team USA woman to go yard twice, with  homerun and  slam in 21-0 win

The brief suspension of play on the late Friday games as well as all of Saturday's contests did little to subdue the spirits of Team USA looking to get back on the winning track in its meeting against South Korea. And the US did, with a vengence, scoring 21 runs and blanking the opposition in a mercy-rule-shortened five-inning game.

Leftfielder Tamara Holmes of Oakland, CA, went yard in back-to-back at-bats, plating six runs, garnering two firsts: becoming the first Team USA member to have her homeruns leave the park and the first to hit homeruns in two consecutive at-bats. Current  players Malaika Underwood and Karen Costes hit inside-the-park homeruns during the Third World Cup in Japan in 2008.

Other major contributors to the drubbing were designated hitter and later third base player Wynn McCann of Gilbertsville, PA, who had two hits, scored two runs, walked twice, and had four RBI; rightfielder Jenna Marston of St. Louis had two hits, one walk, scored three, and had three RBI; and third base player Clarisa Navarro of La Joya, Texas, had two hits, walked, scored two, and had three RBI. Team USA only had one error in the game.

US starter Loren Smith of Tampa, FL, won her first game of this World Cup, holding the South Koreans to four hits, a walk, and no runs in three innings. She threw 42 pitches, 25 of them for strikes. Christin Sobeck of Alpena, Mich., finished the game, with two hitless innings, two strikeouts, and one walk in her 30-pitch outing.

South Korea's Mi Hui Kim threw 58 pitches and gave up eight runs on six hits and four walks in two innings. She had one strikeout. Reliever Joo Youn Han pitched one inning in relief, allowing nine runs on eight hits and one walk. Then Soo Young Bae pitched the last two innings, giving up four runs, three hits and two bases on balls. Bae struck out one. Team South Korea had three errors.

The only offense for South Korea was provided by third base player Kyung Ka Kim, who had one hit and walked once; catcher Zong Yeon Wang, leftfielder Jeong Hee Park, and second base player Hye Jin Seo, with one hit each, and centerfielder Dae Lee Kwak, who walked once. 

For more information and play-by-play:

http://web.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100815&content_id=13501818&vkey=news_usab&gid=

The US women will be playing a second game at 6:30 p.m. today against Cuba.

Team Hong Kong decides to leave tournament in wake of shooting; all Caracas games (Pool A) move to Maracay 

Team Hong Kong decided not to continue playing in the World Cup. The unidentified player on that team was treated and released to be with her team, according to the International Baseball Federation in an Aug. 14 release. Reportedly the trauma of the incident caused the team to withdraw and return home.

After a meeting with the delegations in Caracas, the IBAF moved those delegations -- Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Netherlands, and Venezuela--to hotels in and around Maracay, which is a three-hour drive from Caracas. All of the teams in both pools will play their games in either Jose Perez C. or Aviacion stadiums for the remainder of the tournament.

USA Baseball comments on IBAF's measures, its own security

According to Ashley Bratcher, USA Baseball's director of the National Women's Team who is traveling with the team, USA Baseball and the US delegation are satisfied with the steps the IBAF and Venezuela's organizing committee have taken to insure the safety of the delegations:

With the steps the IBAF and the local organizing committee have taken, in particular moving the tournament to Maracay, we and our security detail are confident that the U.S. team can have a safe and successful remainder of the tournament. At no time was our delegation part of the incident in Caracas, and we would like to thank the IBAF for continued communication with our delegation over the past 24 hours. (USA Baseball, Aug. 14, 2010, release)

USA Baseball works with the United States State Department, the US embassy within the tournament's host country, and security agents who travel with the teams to create an international security plan to protect the national teams, according to USA Baseball. The security agents assigned to the US women have been with them since before their departure and will remain with them until they return home.

USA Baseball Executive Director and CEO Paul Seiler said, "the safety of our players, coaches and staff is always the first thing we consider." He added: "After events unfolded on Friday in Caracas, we worked very closely with our staff in country, security agents traveling with the team and the IBAF to insure this was an isolated incident and not specifically directed at the participants in the Women's World Cup." (USA Baseball release)

Other scores, Friday and Sunday

Friday: Canada defeated Chinese Taipei, 7-6, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Japan edged out Cuba, 3-1.

Sunday: Cuba stung Puerto Rico, 12-1, in six innings. Puerto Rico had seven errors. Team Japan's women scored 10 runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to a 14-0 win over South Korea.