Canadawins twice to take sole possession of second place at Canada Cup

july2009

Canadawins twice to take sole possession of second place at Canada Cup

July 8, 2009

Surrey, BC

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

July8^th, 2009

Canadawins twice to take sole possession of second place at Canada Cup

(Surrey,BC) – The Canadian Women’s Softball Team bounced back from a loss to the UnitedStates on Monday night by defeating Venezuela 4-1 and the Netherlands 10-3 onTuesday at Softball City. Venezuela had shut out Canada 1-0 in the tournamentopener for the two teams, but Canada took advantage of a solid performance byDanielle Lawrie (Langley, BC) in the pitcher’s circle to defeat them in therematch between the two clubs. In the second game of the day, Victoria Hayward(Mountain View, California) and Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) each drove in threeruns to lead Canada over the Netherlands

Inthe afternoon game against Venezuela, Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) set thetone for the game in Canada’s first at-bat once again, as she led off thebottom of the first inning with a homerun. Victoria Hayward followed with asingle, moved around the bases to third, and scored on an RBI ground out byJennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

Venezuelacut into the lead with a run in the top of the third, but Canada went rightback to work to get the insurance marker in the bottom of the inning whenCaitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York) reached on an error and later scored on asingle by Hayward. Canada added its fourth run the following inning when KelseyHaberl (Burnaby, BC) delivered an RBI single of her own.

DanielleLawrie turned in a masterful pitching performance, striking out 15 hitters inseven innings of work. She allowed one run on four hits, and walked fourbatters.

Atthe plate, Victoria Hayward and Jennifer Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) each hadtwo hits for Canada, while Melanie Matthews had (homerun), Caitlin Lever(triple) and Kelsey Haberl each contributed a hit.

Canadavs. Venezuela: Box Scoreand Play-by-Play

Inthe nightcap, Canada was able to take an early lead in the bottom of the firstwhen Melanie Matthews came in to score on a single by Jennifer Salling. TheNetherlands replied in a big way, scoring three runs in the top of the secondto take a 3-1 lead, but the red and white was able to trim that lead to 3-2 inthe third when Kaleigh Rafter smashed a double, scoring Hayward from third.Canada then took control of the game the following inning, exploding with fourruns. The two-out rally started when Caitlin Lever singled, Melanie Matthewsthen drove her in with a triple, and Victoria Hayward pushed Matthews to theplate with a double. After a pair of walks, Kaleigh Rafter delivered a basesloaded single to bring another two runs, giving Canada a 6-3 lead.

Thered and white added two more runs in the fifth, as rookie Jessica Tieszen(Surrey, BC) singled with one out and later scored on a single by Hayward,while Caitlin Lever also scored on an error on the very same hit. Canadacompleted the scoring by adding two more runs with two outs in the bottom ofthe sixth. Evelyne Pare (Ile-Perrot, QC) reached on a single, and Megan Timpf(Port Dover, ON) followed up with one of her own, and Pare came all the way toscore on a fielding error on the play. Jessica Tieszen then pushed Timpf in toscore to end the game on the run-rule, as Canada defeated the Netherlands 10-3.

MarisaLitster (North Saanich, BC) was the starting pitcher and allowed three runs onthree hits to go along with two strikeouts in three innings of work. JennaCaira (Toronto, ON) earned the win in relief, allowing only two hits with fivestrikeouts in the final three innings.

VictoriaHayward had a big game at the plate, going three-for-four with a double, threeruns batted in and a stolen base. Kaleigh Rafter added a double and a singlefor three RBI’s, while Melanie Matthews, Jennifer Salling and Jessica Tieszeneach produced a run.

Canadavs. Netherlands: Box Scoreand Play-by-play

Withthe two wins, Canada improved its record to 4-2 at the Canada Cup, stabilizingthem in second place through six games. Tonight, Canada (4-2) will faceAustralia (1-4) at 6:30pm PDT.

Inother action on Day 4 of the Canada Cup, Australia shut out the Netherlands9-0, and was then blanked by USA by a score of 7-0.

CanadaCup Standings after Day 4 – International Division