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Team Canada Remains Undefeated at WBSC Junior Women’s Softball World Championship

July 27, 2017

Clearwater, FL - - Team Canada Remains Undefeated at WBSC Junior Women’s Softball World Championship


The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
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July 27th, 2017
 

Team Canada Remains Undefeated at WBSC Junior Women’s Softball World Championship

(Clearwater, Fla.) The Canadian Junior Women’s National Team pushed its record to 4-0 with a pair of key victories on Wednesday, defeating Korea 5-1 and Great Britain 4-2. Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage (Fort McMurray, Alta.) held Korea down for most of the game with Canada manufacturing the runs needed to pull out the win, while Great Britain took an early 2-0 lead but Canada got singles runs in the second and third before adding two in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Against Korea, Canada opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Allyse Volpe (Toronto, Ont.) led off with a single and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt with no one covering third base before scoring on a single over the pitcher’s glove by Grace Messmer (Surrey, B.C.). The following inning, Abbey Fortin (Langley, B.C.) hit a towering fly ball to left-center that the centerfielder was not able to catch, with Fortin cycling all the way to third on the error before scoring on a single to right field by Hannah Finkelstein (Richmond, B.C.). Canada loaded the bases on a single by Emma Adams (Rockwood, Ont.) and an error before Rebecca Jones (Toronto, Ont.) hit a sacrifice fly ball to right, followed by a run-scoring double over the centerfielder off the bat of Messmer. Maria Palmegiani (Surrey, B.C.) then hit a ground ball to shortstop and reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing another run to score as Canada took a 5-0 lead.
 
Canada got a pair of one-out singles from Fortin and Finkelstein in the third but was unable to add to its lead. Meanwhile, Aguilar-Beaucage retired Korea in order in each of the first three innings before the Koreans were able to get a two-out single in the fourth as well as a two-out double in the fifth, but couldn’t advance the runners any further. Korea was able to push a run across in the seventh with a leadoff single followed by two ground outs and an RBI single, but that was as close as they would get.
 
Box Score: Canada 5 vs. Korea 1
 
Aguilar-Beaucage went the distance for Canada, allowing a run on four hits and striking out seven over seven innings. Messmer went two-for-three with a double and two runs batted in, while Finkelstein added two singles and drove in one. Volpe, Fortin, Adams and Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) each chipped in with a hit.
 
In the second game, Great Britain got on the board quickly with two runs in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single. The following inning, Canada cut the lead in half as Palmegiani reached on an error and was replaced by pinch-runner Alexis Huggart (Treherne, Man.) who move up to second on a single and to third on a ground out before scoring on a single by Amanda Janes (Brampton, Ont.). The red and white would go on to tie the game in the third when Volpe led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single to center by Messmer. Canada proceeded to load the bases on a single by Palmegiani and a hit by pitch by Becki Monaghan (Spruce Grove, Alta.), but a strikeout and a pop out to third left three runners stranded.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Canada got a pair of two-out singles by Volpe and Jones but the next batter grounded out. Canada brought in Aguilar-Beaucage in relief of starter Kara Bilodeau (Cumming, Ga.) to start the fifth inning and the first batter reached with a single. Aguilar-Beaucage got a pair of strikeouts before giving up another single, but got the next batter to strike out to end the threat. Palmegiani led off the bottom of the inning with a double and was sacrificed to third, but the next two batters were retired to leave the game tied 2-2 after five innings of play. In the sixth, Hicks hit a one-out double followed by a bunt single by Volpe to put runners on the corners before Jones hit a ground ball to shortstop that was thrown to home but Hicks made a great slide to get around the tag to give Canada its first lead of the game. Messmer followed up with a run-scoring single to right to put Canada on top 4-2. Great Britain put some pressure on in the top of the seventh on a single and an error, but the runner on second was tagged out on a ground ball to third to end the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 4 vs. Great Britain 2
 
Bilodeau settled in after the first inning, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out three in four innings. Aguilar-Beaucage picked up the win in relief, scattering four hits with four strikeouts in three innings. Messmer had a pair of hits and drove in two runs, with Volpe also getting two singles and scoring twice. Palmegiani chipped in with a double and a single, with Hicks adding a double and other hits going to Jones, Monaghan and Janes.
 
The two wins improved Canada’s first-place record to 4-0 in Section D, while Korea dropped to 1-3 and Great Britain to 2-2. Canada will finish its preliminary round schedule with a showdown against China (3-1) at 5:30pm EDT today, with the winner locking up first place in Section D.

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For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing & Communications
Softball Canada
p: (613) 523-3386 ext. 3105 | m: (613) 795-1996
w: www.softball.ca | e: gleblanc@softball.ca
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