"We knew Japan would be really good and they beat Aussie 4-0 in the final. They were a class above everybody else. But in simple terms we didn't hit well enough and we gave up too many runs," coach Gettins said.
One statistic Gettins was proud of was the six defensive errors across the seven games.
Six women's team will play at the 2020 Olympics in Japan and Gettins said countries will learn in six weeks what the qualification process will be. Options include the top six finishers at the July world championship in Japan or a qualification process next year.
"The Olympic Games is still the goal. While we created more depth last week all of our top players will be available for the July tournament. But in saying that the niggly injuries Nyree and Jennifer have are causing concern," Gettins said.
He was impressed with the batting of centre outfielder Kingsley Avery and pointed out another positive was the amount of information the Kiwis stored away on their opposing teams.
Meanwhile Gettins daughter Melanie Gettins, who has been a White Sox catcher since 2010 and has attended four world championships with the side, was quick to react to a social media post from a prominent member of the softball fraternity yesterday.
"I don't want to name the person as I understand the post has been taken down but those who are involved with it understand the challenges we consistently face with trying to prepare ourselves for the single most important challenge of our softball careers, Olympic qualification. While we definitely don't always get the results we are after, we realise that it's all part of building for the bigger picture," Gettins, who wasn't available for the Aussie trip, said.
"We don't have the luxury of being able to have all players available for every single item on our White Sox calendar. Some girls are busy competing in the USA scene - improving themselves in the long run, some still have regular life commitments like working and looking after families, there are injuries and also some just can't afford to attend everything. If you knew the internal logistics of how few players were able to make themselves available for every event then maybe you would all understand a little more."
Gettins recalled a team camp in May last year when multiple Olympic and world shot put champion Valerie Adams addressed the team.
"She spoke about only allowing those who have positive impact to be a part of your journey. She called it being "On the Bus". She talked about any negativity was only going to drag you backwards, steal your energy and slow your progress. Anybody like that needed to be kicked off the bus until a point that they could positively contribute," Gettins said.
"As hard as the journey already is, we all need to stay strong and ignore those voices which clearly aren't on our bus."
