Team Canada Opens Junior Women’s
World Championship with Big Win over China

(Oklahoma City, OK) The Canadian Junior Women’s National Team opened the WBSC Junior Women’s World Softball Championship with a big 11-1 win over China on Sunday. Team Canada broke a tight 1-1 ball game by scoring four runs in the fourth followed by six more in the fifth to end the game in five innings on the run rule.
 
Team Canada opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, as Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, BC) reached on an error later followed by a hit by pitch to Emma Entzminger (Victoria, BC) and a single to left by Holly Speers (Surrey, BC) to load the bases before an error on a ground ball to shortstop allowed Jenkins to cross the plate for the game’s first run. China got a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the first, but Canadian pitcher Madison Clarke (Edmonton, AB) got the next batter to ground out to leave two runners on base. Canada put two more runners on in the second on a leadoff walk by Becki Monaghan (Spruce Grove, AB) and another error but was unable to add to its lead, with China managing two more singles in the bottom of the frame but Clarke struck out the side.
 
Alisha Welch (Langley, BC) hit a one-out single in the third and later beat out a throw to second on a fielder’s choice, but the next batter struck out. China tied the game in the bottom of the inning as Xu Yi hit a one-out double, moved up to third on a ground out to the pitcher and scored on an infield single.
 
In the top of the fourth, Julianna Waldner (Altona, MB) reached on an error followed by a single to center by Welch to place runners on the corners. After a pair of quick outs, Speers hit a two-run single to center. The two next batters also reached on errors to load the bases before Courtney Gilbert (Delhi, ON) hit a two-run single of her own to right to extend Canada’s lead to 5-1.
 
China got a leadoff single in the bottom half of the fourth but the three next batters were sat down in order before Canada went back on the offensive in the fifth. With one out, Callum Pilgrim (Abbotsford, BC) walked, Entzminger singled to center and Maude Sigouin (Laval, QC) dropped a bunt single to load the bases. An error by the third baseman allowed one run to score, with another crossing the plate on a hit by pitch by Taylor Lundrigan (Abbotsford, BC). Gilbert hit a run-scoring single to push Sigouin to the plate before both Monaghan and Waldner worked bases loaded walks to bring two more runners in to score. Another error on a ground ball to second pushed another run home as Canada took a commanding 11-1 lead and put the run rule into effect. Madison Hope (Winnipeg, MB) came in to relieve Clarke in the pitcher’s circle in the bottom of the frame and sat China down in order on a ground out to shortstop, a pop out to third in foul territory and a strikeout to end the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 11 vs. China 1
 
Clarke earned the win in the pitcher’s circle, allowing one run on seven hits to go along with six strikeouts in four innings of work, while Hope retired all three batters she faced. Offensively, Gilbert hit a pair of singles and drove in three runs for Canada, with Speers hitting two singles and driving in two and Jenkins also contributing a pair of singles and producing one run. Sigouin, Welch and Entzminger each singled to round out Canada’s nine hits, with Waldner and Monaghan drawing bases loaded walks and Lundrigan bringing a run in to score on a bases loaded hit by pitch. China committed eight errors defensively.
 
In other scores earlier on the first day of competitions at the WBSC Junior Women’s World Softball Championship in Oklahoma City, Australia beat Italy 5-2, the Czech Republic shaded Puerto Rico 1-0, Great Britain defeated Columbia 8-1 in five innings, Mexico edged Brazil 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, the United States powered past Chinese Taipei 10-0, Argentina shut down Colombia 12-0 and Japan blanked New Zealand 7-0.
 
Team Canada (1-0) will play its next game against Japan at 11:00am CDT on Monday in the first game of the second day of competition. Live scoring and web streaming is available through the event page on USA Softball’s website.