(3) Egypt 1 (4) Democratic Republic of the Congo 5

VWBC
GIZA - I'd be surprised if screenwriters aren't bidding for the movie rights to this one even as you're reading this. What occured last Friday and what has been occuring these past months for the team from the DRC is most definitely movie-worthy, too good to be true. The team from DRC, a country that for years has been plagued by violence, disease, and poverty, defeated the Egyptian squad in a solid victory, 5-1. The pinpoint control Oshava Kesharo, having started every one of the DRC's games so far, confounded Egypt's attack with 9 strikeouts and only allowing one run. A little of everything helped DRC's offense, with small ball, power, and simple singles all contributing to their five runs. However that is just the technical story of the game. Much more inspiring are the stories of the fans, of a people united, even if only for a few months, by baseball. Every one of the DRC's players have become heroes in their homeland. The touching stories are endless: citizens packing huge spaces to view games on government-funded big screens, people claiming that cheering for the team is what gets them by in their troubled lives. But most inspiring of all was something that happened in the aftermath of last Friday's contest: members of enemy militias laid down their weapons, met, and celebrated together. While it remains to be seen if this baseball can truly bring peace to the troubled country, people of the DRC now have something they sorely need: something to cheer for.

(1) Australia 4 (3) St. Lucia 7

VWBC
CASTRIES - Last week in the first of four clashes for continental supremacy, St. Lucia derailed number one seed Australia in a 7-4 victory. Fresh off their defeat of traditional power USA and having rolled through the tournament thus far, the up-and-coming Aussies were completely nonplussed by a St. Lucian squad that was never expected to win this game. The Australians, a team composed of many players from a variety of nations drawn to this new center of the game in the pacific, were no doubt expecting to run over the tough yet untalented (compared to them, or so they thought) St. Lucians. But from the very first inning, fueled by the fervent cheering of their home crowd, the St. Lucian squad displayede more awareness, hussle, and drive than the Australians, scoring 5 runs in the first 4 innings. Gradually, the Australian giant seemed to shake itself awake. By the fifth they were coming alive again, and eventually got within one run during a 6th inning rally, but were stopped by an amazing double play turned by St. Lucia's shortstop and second baseman. Shortstop Rico Kelly made a leaping catch that would have been seemingly impossible for a mortal, and then flipped it to second for the easy second out. St. Lucia topped it all off in the 7th with a two run homer. They advance and claim dominance over their region, with this tiny island nation now holding bragging rights over powers like the US and Australia. Now they are guaranteed at least a shot at medaling, and advance to compete with either Egypt or the DRC for the right to play in the VWBC final.

Quarterfinal matchups

VWBC
Here is the schedule for the quarterfinals of the VWBC. Matches are not necessarily in the order they will be played, but they are still in bracket order (the winner of a match will play the winner of the match below it in the next round).
Europe Region
Games to be played at Salzburg Stadium in Austria:
(4) England vs. (14) Liechtenstein August 19
Asia/Middle East Region
Games to be played at Tokyo Arena in Japan:
(1) Mongolia vs. (3) Indonesia August 20
Africa Region
Games to be played at Giza Stadium in Egypt:
(3) Egypt vs. (4) Democratic Republic of the Congo August 18
Americas/Islands Region
Games to be played at Castries Field in St. Lucia:
(1) Australia vs. (3) St. Lucia August 17

Round 3 concluded

VWBC
With St. Lucia's close defeat of Chile on August 2, the regional semifinals of the VWBC came to a close. Although the round was by no means lacking in drama or excitement, it was a round that left fans looking more forward than back with the exciting regional championships it set up. The first of the top seeds exited in this round, starting with the very first match as England triumphed over Germany. Then of course Liechtenstein pulled off their unbelieveable upset of Scotland to prolong their incredible run, and round 3 was rolling. Despite a considerable mid-round delay, all is well again now after more of the same filled out the quarterfinal matchups. With the scheduled rest break between rounds 3 and 4 now over, tension has reached unbelievable levels in anticipation of the coming round's matches.

And what matches they will be. In the European finals, a slight underdog and a huge underdog will do battle, with England, coming off an upset of 1 seed Germany facing Liechtenstein, already the victors of an incredible cinderella run. The Asian region will feature a clash between the strong but as-of-yet untested Indonesian squad and the almighty Mongolian Machine, a seemingly unstoppable team that has steamrolled all comers thus far. Africa will feature a clash of two battle-tested titans, with 4 seed DRC coming off their defeat of top-seeded Chad to face down the tough Egyptians. Finally, in the Americas/Islands, St. Lucia will see if they can face down Australia and the rising power they bring. All eyes now turn to the matches whose victors will be able to claim dominance over entire continents.

July 30 - August 2 Results

VWBC
After a considerable delay, the results are in for the final two days of round 3 play. Unfortunately, this delay was caused by what basically amounted to a mass desertion among the players of the tournament. It started on August 20, when some members of the Australian team who also happened to be avid surfers noticed some gnarly swells hitting the coast of Hawaii. Without further ado, despite the fact that they were scheduled to play in 3 days, 10 Australian players booked flights and were out within a few hours. Following their example, a significant portion of the Chad team decided to go after said swell and were also gone. Within hours of the end of play on July 20, scores of players from VWBC teams were disappearing to Hawaii. Even if they weren't surfers, they decided to go along with their buddies, or even in some cases, such as in the case of the Chilean team where not one of them surfed, they decided to go along just for fun. Consequently, the next day none of the eight teams still yet to play in round 3 could field teams of more than 7 players. It quickly became clear that organizers were powerless, for if they denied the players their vacation, then the VWBC, a tournament that had taken years and countless drawn-out negotiating sessions to organize, would simply crumble beneath them. Seeing that they had no choice, organizers offered the players a 9 day break, until July 30, which the players accepted.
In an effort to keep interest high for many of the fans that had traveled across the world to venues, the VWBC put on an event called the Hemisphere Series, in which members of teams that had remained (eliminated or not eliminated) were divided into teams representing their respective hemispheres. For the first five days it was North vs. South, and for the next five players were reorganized and it was East vs. West. Tickets were free and all manner of additional entertainments took place around the stadiums. Although it lacked many stars and any meaning, the Hemisphere Series was quite a success for such short notice, giving players from different countries the opportunity to play together in a pressureless atmosphere. In the end, North prevailed over South, 4 games to 0, and East prevailed over West, 3 games to 1.
Now that you have all that backstory through your head, here are the results for the real games that were played at the conclusion of the break:
July 30:
(1) Chad 3 (4) Democratic Republic of the Congo 5
Chad's squad, coming in as a strong 1 seed, had been weak all tourney, barely scraping victories against their first two punching-bag opponents. Running into a truly strong opponent proved to be their undoing as they came apart against the DRC's effective defense and consistent hitting.
July 30:
(2) Sierra Leone 7 (3) Egypt 10
In a matchup that was looked as close as it could get, a 2 seed vs. a 3 seed, Egypt knocked off Sierra Leone in a game that was indeed close. The Egyptians got off to a good start in the first with 3 runs, but Sierra Leone slowly built up a lead that surpassed them with 5 runs by the 6th, meanwhile holding Egypt to no additional runs. Sierra Leone's bullpen failed them in the 7th, however, when they replaced their starter, only to find the reliever concede 4 runs while only giving up one out before being pulled. In the 8th, Sierra Leone continued the see-saw with two runs to tie it, but Egypt prevailed in the 9th with a walk-off three run homer that came before Sierra Leone's once again faulty bullpen could record an out.
August 1:
(1) Australia 5 (5) USA 2
In a clash of old vs. new, budding pacific power Australia stared down the country that started it all, the USA backed by centuries of tradition, and overthrew them. Australia picked up runs piecemeal during the first 5 innings, eventually ending up with a lead of 4 to the American 0 after 5, more than they would need. However the USA had a tradition to protect, and would not go down without a fight. Before a stadium overflowing with fans of both sides, the Americans made a valiant last stand in the 7th, picking up two runs off of a solo homer and an rbi double that left men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Their offensive was cut short by two remarkable plays by the Aussies on balls that would have been hits in most cases. After that, the Aussies iced the cake in the 8th with a solo home run and silenced any further American hopes for runs with a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th and a one-hit inning in the 9th. The US certainly accquited themselves well however, and no one can say they played badly, in fact they had a very good chance of winning were it not for the stupendous Australian defense in the 7th
August 2:
(3) St. Lucia 1 (7) Chile 0
On the final day of round 3, St. Lucia moved on in front of a roaring home crowd, despite a few scares. Their only run came off of small-ball play in the 3rd, but their defense was dominating, strangling almost all Chilean rallies before they got beyond two hits. The only real offensive chance Chile had was in the 5th with bases loaded and 1 out, but they squandered it with a shallow fly and weak grounder to end the inning. The Chilean defense was solid however, having achieved a remarkable feat in holding powerful St. Lucia to 1 run. If their offense was a tad better, they could have become only the second seed above 4 to advance to the regional finals.