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Canada Advances to Medal Round at WBSC Junior Men’s World Softball Championship!

July 30, 2016

Midland, MI - Canada Advances to Medal Round at WBSC Junior Men's World Softball Championship!


The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30th, 2016
 

Canada Advances to Medal Round at WBSC
Junior Men’s World Softball Championship!


(Midland, MI) The Canadian Junior Men’s National Team faced an uphill battle with only one life in the playoff round, but the bats started to heat up at the right moment and ace pitcher Tyler Randerson (New Hamburg, ON) carried the team on his back by pitching back-to-back complete games to defeat the United States 6-2 and two-time defending World champions Argentina 5-1 on Friday. Team Canada now moves on to the medal round and will face New Zealand at 1:30pm EDT with the winner of that game taking on Japan in the Gold medal game at 7:00pm EDT.
 
In the first game, Jake Wiffen (Tavistock, ON) drilled a ball off the pitcher but the ball went directly towards the first baseman for an out in the top of the first inning. Alexandre Lemieux (St-Gervais, QC) later reached with a two-out single and stole second, but the next batter grounded out. In the bottom of the inning, the United States put a runner on base with a one-out walk and got a single that dropped in front of a diving Avery Arsenault (Tignish, PEI) in centerfield and got by him, allowing the runner to score from first as the Americans took a 1-0 lead.
 
Canada got a leadoff single by Daniel Godbout (St-Gervais, QC) and he stole second and third, but Canada was unable to bring him in to score. The United States added a run to its lead when Randerson hit a batter and walked another to start the inning and the runners advanced on a ground out, and the lead runner scored when the first baseman tried to throw him out at third and made an error on the throw. Team Canada cut the lead in half in the third, as Wiffen triple to right and scored on a ground out by Arsenault. Lemieux followed up with a single but was caught stealing to end the inning. Randerson allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the frame but struck out the next three batters.
 
In the fourth, Godbout drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a passed ball before James Shirley (Delisle, SK) pinch ran for him. Justin Laskowski (Warman, SK) then doubled to right to score Shirley, getting just under the tag at second. Mitch Stack (Petty Harbour, NL) pinch ran for him, and scored on a single just out of the reach of the second baseman by Derek Hyde (Tavistock, ON) as Canada took a 3-2 lead. After Randerson sit the Americans down in order, Canada got a one-out double by Arsenault who went on to score on a single up the middle by Jake Bricknell (Port Perry, ON). The Americans got a one-out triple in the bottom of the fifth, but Randerson induced a pop out to second followed by a big strikeout to keep the two-run lead intact.
 
Laskowski began the sixth by reaching on a throwing error to advance to second and was sacrificed to third, but a ground out and a strikeout left him stranded there. The United States were sit down in order on five pitches in the bottom half of the sixth, and Canada managed to add two more insurance runs in the top half of the seventh on a pair of run-scoring singles by Lemieux and Bricknell to give Canada a 6-2 lead. The United States managed a single and a double to put runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh, but Randerson shut the door with a big strikeout to end the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 6 vs. United States 2
 
Randerson allowed two runs on five hits and two walks, striking out ten batters in the complete game win. Lemieux led the attack with three singles and a run batted in while Bricknell had a pair of run-scoring singles. Wiffen had a triple, a single and two runs scored, with Laskowski and Arsenault each getting a double and producing a run. Godbout and Hyde also registered singles to round out Canada’s eleven hits.
 

Against Argentina, Randerson – pitching his third game in two days – got off to a bit of a slow start as one batter reached on an error followed by an infield single to put runners on the corners, and a run crossed the plate on a wild pitch. Wiffen singled to lead off the bottom of the first and got to second on an illegal pitch, but Canada’s next three batters were retired to leave him stranded on second. Both teams went down in order quickly in the second, with Argentina working a leadoff walk to start the third but Randerson settled in and sat down the next three batters.
 
The Canadian bats woke up in a big way in the bottom half of the fourth, as Arsenault led off with a single and immediately scored on a two-run homerun to right by Lemieux for Canada’s first blast of the tournament. Bricknell followed with a solo shot of his own for back-to-back homeruns as Canada took a 3-1 lead. Argentina got two runners on base in the top of the fifth on a walk and an error, but Randerson got a strikeout and a ground out in the inning to leave both runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the frame, Hyde worked a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a single by Wiffen before scoring on another single by Arsenault to increase the lead to 4-1.
 
Argentina looked poised to get back in the game in the top of the sixth with a pair of singles to start the inning, getting runners on second and third with no outs. However, Randerson dug deep and got a strikeout, a shallow fly out to center and a big strikeout to end the inning. The red and white added another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Laskowski singled, was sacrificed to second by Randerson and scored on a double to left-center field by Hyde to make the score 5-1. Argentina once again made things interesting in the top of the seventh, getting a one-out single followed by a two-out error and a dropped third strike to load the bases, but Randerson put an exclamation point on the day by striking out the next batter and send Canada to the medal round.
 
Box Score: Canada 5 vs. Argentina 1
 
Randerson finished his big day by allowing only one unearned run on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in the complete-game win, his third in a row in the playoff round. Lemieux and Bricknell each homered for Canada, with Hyde hitting a run-scoring double. Wiffen, Arsenault and Laskowski all registered a pair of singles as Canada produced nine hits.
 
Earlier in the day, Argentina advanced to face Canada after defeating Australia 4-3. Japan also blanked New Zealand 3-0 to advance to Saturday’s Gold medal game at 7:00pm EDT, while New Zealand will face Canada at 1:30pm EDT with the winner moving on to face Japan.


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For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
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