The morning saw the playing of the three games that were cancelled because of the wet weather the previous day, with Canada defeating China 2-0, the Dominican Republic overcoming Chinese Taipei 7-0 and Cuba winning 3-1 over Puerto Rico.

Italy then set off the day's action with a winning streak to whitewash Great Britain 9-0 - a result that meant the latter nation became the first nation to officially be eliminated from the playoffs.

Italy collected 13 base hits, including three by Eva Trevisan, while the British defence contributed with seven errors, resulting in six unearned runs.

Italy opened the score in the second frame as Giulia Longhi singled in the first run before a single by Elisa Grifagno made it 2-0.

The third run was added in the fourth inning when Irene Barone singled with two outs and went on to score on a throwing error.

Britain got two opportunities to get back in the game in the third inning when it got the bases loaded with two outs, but all runners stranded.

In the fourth, the team got its first two batters to reach base.

They advanced into scoring position with two outs, but this time a strikeout ended Britain's chances of a run.

Italy then made a game-deciding six-run rally in the seventh inning.

Puerto Rico were eliminated from the top four after their loss to Russia at the Women's Softball World Championship ©Haarlem 2014/Facebook



New Zealand were also successful in their game against Czech Republic, who have now lost their last two games, and finished with a score of 7-3, while Cuba could not repeat their winning form from the morning's game as they went 2-0 down to China.