Canada Earns a Spot in Gold Medal Game with
Win over Puerto Rico at Pan American Games

(Ajax, ON) The Canadian Women’s Softball Team earned a spot in the Gold medal game by beating Puerto Rico 7-4 on Saturday night. Canada battled back from a pair of deficits with key hits by Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) and Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) before taking the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning and adding insurance runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Canadian pitchers Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) and Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, BC) combined for 14 strikeouts to seal the victory.
 
Puerto Rico came out strong in the top of the first inning, with Aleshia Ocasio hitting a two-run single to left field to open the scoring. Canada responded right away in the bottom half of the inning, rallying after two early outs. A double to left field by Rafter got things going, followed by a pair of walks by Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) and Erika Polidori (Brantford, ON) to load the bases. Megan Gurski (Dalmeny, SK) drew another walk for Canada’s first run before Timpf capitalized on the opportunity by smacking a single past the shortstop’s outstretched glove to score two more runs. After a rain delay, Team Canada came out of the first inning ahead 3-2.
 
Both teams were held scoreless in the second inning, with Caira striking out the side to shut down the Puerto Rican offence. Two groundouts and a strikeout would retired the Canadians in order in the bottom of the frame. The third inning was also scoreless, with Timpf turning a double play by catching a line drive and throwing to second to end Puerto Rico’s at-bat, and Canada loaded the bases on an error and two walks but was unable to add to its lead. 
 
The fourth inning was an eventful one, with Puerto Rico capitalizing on two errors and managing to score two runs to take a 4-3 lead. The Canadian offence responded right away once again in the bottom half of the inning, with Jen Yee (North Delta, BC) reaching first on a single and advancing to second on an error. Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) then reached first on a bunt, with both runners scoring on a double by Rafter as Canada regained the lead. The hits kept coming, with Salling hitting a solid single up the middle. Polidori reached on a fielder’s choice to the pitcher as pinch-runner Logan White (Brantford, ON) was forced out at third base. The Canadians ended their at-bat with a 5-4 lead, leaving two runners on base.
 
In the top of the fifth, Caira struck out two batters but hit one, with Groenewegen coming on in relief and striking out the first batter she faced for the third out. In the bottom of the inning, Canada was able to extend their lead by a run as Timpf got on base with a single and later scored on an error. 
 
Canada’s pitching proved too much to handle for the Puerto Ricans in the sixth, as Groenewegen struck out the side after allowing a leadoff walk. The bottom half saw Canada add another insurance run, with Salling reaching on a walk and Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) later cashing her in with a line-drive single to left. Canada entered the seventh inning with a 7-4 lead, needing three outs to secure a spot in the Gold Medal game. Despite Puerto Rico putting two runners in scoring position with two outs on a single by Karla Claudio and a double by Nicole Osterman, Groenewegen struck out the next batter for the last out of the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 7 vs. Puerto Rico 4
 
Caira earned the win with four innings and two thirds pitched, allowing five hits and striking out eight. Groenewegen came in to relieve Caira and notched six strikeouts while allowing two hits in her two and a third innings. Rafter and Timpf each contributed two hits for Canada, with other hits going to Yee, Salling and Wideman. 
 
With the win, Team Canada advanced to the Gold medal game against the United States at 11:00am EDT, while Puerto Rico earned the Bronze medal with the loss.
 
The Gold medal game will be webstreamed at http://panam.cbc.ca/ and on the CBC Sports Pan Am Games Mobile App.