Palmerston North, New Zealand – The Canadian Men’s National Softball has arrived in New Zealand to begin their preparations for the 2022 WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup that will take place November 26 to December 4 in Auckland. The team will first compete in the International Invitational Series from November 18-20 in Palmerston as a tune up prior to the World Cup, with exhibition games also planned between the two events.
 
The red and white will play their first game of the International Invitational Series on Friday, November 18 against New Zealand at 7:30pm (1:30am EST) at Colquhoun Park in Palmerston. Team Canada will open the WBSC Men’s World Cup against Venezuela at 2:00pm NZDT on November 26^th (8:00pm EDT on November 25^th) in Auckland.
 
Softball Canada previously announced the World Cup roster in September, with one change as Ty Sebastian (Brussels, Ont.) was added to the roster to replace Devon McCullough (Saskatoon, Sask.) who is unable to attend. The 16-athlete roster includes nine players returning from the 2019 World Cup Team that won Bronze: Bryan Abrey (Richmond, B.C.), Ryan Boland (St. John’s, N.L.), Shane Boland (St. John’s, N.L.), Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, N.L.), Bradley Ezekiel (Harbour Main, N.L.), Jason Hill (St. John’s, N.L.), Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, B.C.), Tyler Pauli (Mitchell, Ont.) and Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, Que.).
 
Cory Jones (Leduc, Alta.), Justin Laskowski (Warman, Sask.), Zach Pierce (Saskatoon, Sask.) and Colin Walsh (Petty Harbour, N.L.) join the team after representing Canada at the 2022 WBSC Americas Pan American Championship in April, with Quinten Bruce (Grand Valley, Ont.), Justin Schofield (Grand Pre, N.S.) and Sebastian rounding out the roster after successful seasons. Schofield and Walsh previously represented Canada at the 2017 WBSC Men’s World Cup.
 
Canada is currently ranked No. 3 in the WBSC World Rankings, and qualified for the WBSC World Cup with a silver-medal performance at the 2022 WBSC Americas Pan American Championship held April 24-30 in Parana, Argentina. The red and white has won the bronze medal at the last two WBSC Men’s Softball World Cups held in 2017 and 2019 and won gold at the event in 2015.
 

The International Invitational Series will be streamed on the Tradestaff WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Facebook page, while the WBSC Men’s World Cup will be streamed at Gametime.Sport platform. Click here to access the WBSC Men’s World Cup website.