Canada defeats Argentina in ISF Men’s World Championships Opener
July 18, 2009
Saskatoon, SK
FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE
July18th, 2009
Canada defeats Argentina in ISF Men’s World Championships Opener
(Saskatoon,SK) – The Canadian Senior Men’s National Softball Team was eager to get on thefield and that certainly showed in their tournament opener, as the bats were infull swing and Canada defeated Argentina 8-1 in five innings due to the runrule. After a shaky first inning, Canadian starting pitcher Todd Martin(Bracebridge, ON) settled down and did not allow a single hit over the nextthree innings he pitched.
Argentinaseemed to have momentum on their side in the top of the first inning, as Martinstruggled a bit with his control and gave up a run on two hits. However, theCanadian bats picked up for their pitcher, as they went through the battingorder to score three runs in the bottom of the frame. The red and white managedto load the bases, and after Ryan Wolfe (Melbourne, ON) scored on a passedball, Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON) worked the count full and fouled off a fewpitches before delivering a two-run single up the middle, giving Canada a 3-1lead.
Canadaadded another run in the bottom of the third when Craig Crawford (Markham, ON)delivered an RBI single to score Stephen Mullaley (Freshwater, NL) from secondafter he had doubled to lead off the inning. The following inning, Canadathreatened once again, managing to get two runners on base before Mullaleydelivered a line-drive triple to the right-center field gap to push two runnersin to score. Mullaley later scored on a passed ball to increase Canada’s leadto 7-1 after four innings of play.
Inthe bottom of the fifth inning, Kevin Schellenberg (Squamish, BC) hit a solidgrounder down the line that the first baseman was not able to reach to drive inthe winning run, as Canada won 8-1 on the run rule.
ToddMartin picked up the win for Canada, allowing one run on two hits and two walkswith three strikeouts in four innings of work. Sean Whitten (Calgary, AB), whowas just added to the Team Canada roster before the tournament started, threwone inning of relief, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.
Atthe plate, Stephen Mullaley had a double and a triple with two runs batted inand a run scored, while Ryan Wolfe added a double and a single with two runs.Colin Abbott (St. John’s, NL) also cracked two hits for Canada, while KeithMackintosh (Melfort, SK), Kevin Schellenberg, Jody Eidt (Mitchell, ON), IanFehrman and Craig Crawford all chipped in with one.
Canada(1-0) will take on the Czech Republic (1-0) Saturday night at 6:30pm CST.
Inother Day 1 action at the ISF Men’s World Championship, Denmark defeatedBotswana 4-1, the Philippines edged Great Britain 4-3, the Czech Republic beatSouth Africa 8-6, Australia shut down Venezuela 7-0, Puerto Rico blankedIndonesia 9-0, Japan powered by Mexico 10-4 and New Zealand shut out the UnitedStates 15-0.
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Formore information, please contact:
GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)797-7171
