Sun Li and Li Qi both threw a pair of shutouts to cleanse Britain 10-0 as China took the advantage of three fielding errors to score four runs in the first and five in the third in the Beijing World Softball Championship here on Sunday.

Chinese ace pitcher Sun Li stroke out six batters she faced on strikes in the first three innings, two out in each inning, before she was substituted as the starting pitcher by Li Qi, who threw as good as Sun to retire two in fourth and three in China's last-gasp defense efforts to wrap up the match with 4 1/2 innings.

China managed to make no-hit bid all through the match to bind up Britain attributing to Sun and Li's unbelievable pitch. Britain failed to break through the no-score and even no-hit embarrassment after the first pitcher was replaced by Stacie Townsend.

Wu Di and Xin Minhong each had two-run double to score home 4 in the first inning helped by fielder's two lapses, lifting China's morale to dominate the match among the loud applause from the spectators and scorching heat under the sunlight.

Lu Yi's double gave China another point in the second before China secured the win in the third with Wu Di hitting another two-run double and Li Chunxia battering three-run triple.

China had ten hits to announce its power on batter and a step forward towards one of the strongest teams worldwide, which is a well-cherished target for China's coach Misheel Bastiana.

Bastiana, from the United States, praised his players after seeing off Britain with dominant power. "It's an exciting day to see my team win a perfect match after a long period of preparation. The match is well organized and the pitchers are outstanding," said Bastiana.

"We have a very good start and hopefully the players can extend their skills in next match,"

"We play at home with a lot of emotions supported by our fans. My great expectation for China is to establish my team in the rank of strongest teams. We take a step a time to progress and we have done a lot of work on hit."

The scoreless no-hit performance by Britons surely failed to impress their coach Craig Montvidas. "We are very disappointed with the result. It's a young team without much experience compared with China, an Olympic team. China has a good team and a good coach," said Montvidas.

"The difference between the two teams is we got a few errors and China is a very strong team to take good advantage of our errors to score. I hope Britain would be a better team and make better results in the following matches," added Montvidas.

Montvidas said he didn't think the hot weather had affected Britain when he was asked about the question. "I don't think the weather is a problem for us. China is very powerful in softball and my players got a little bit nervous on field," Montvidas told.

The 11th Women's World Softball Championship is the first Olympic test event in Beijing with 16 teams competing in two pools, which will produce four spots (excluding China, the host) to compete in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Source: Xinhua