CanadaSplits Doubleheader at U16 Youth World Cup
August 12, 2009
Prague, CZ
FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE
August12th, 2009
CanadaSplits Doubleheader at U16 Youth World Cup
(Prague,Czech Republic) – The Canadian Women’s U16 National Team split a pair of gamestoday at the U16 Easton Foundation Youth World Cup, as they defeated theDominican Republic 4-0 before narrowly losing to Japan 1-0 in nine innings. Asolid pitching performance by Jaycee Affeldt (MapleRidge, BC) and a pair of triples by Stephanie Gallant (Ajax, ON)led Canada past the Dominican Republic, while Karissa Hovinga (LaVista, Nebraska) was the hard-luck losing pitcher of the game against Japandespite not allowing an earned run, as Canada committed five errors.
Inthe early game against the Dominican Republic, Canada opened the scoring in thetop of the second when Stephanie Gallant led off with a triple, and afterJaycee Affeldt was hit by a pitch and Tessa Loewen (Abbotsford,BC) reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases, the Dominican pitcherdelivered an illegal pitch to push home the first run and advance the otherrunners as well. ShannonDavidson (Whitby, ON) then hit an infield single to allow Affeldt to score.
Thegame remained 2-0 until the top of the seventh, when Canada added a pair ofinsurance runs. JenniferGilbert (McKinney, Texas) started things off with a single, and Megan Gurski (Saskatoon,SK) pinch ran for her. Gurski moved around the bases to third on a pair ofpassed balls, and scored on a single to centerfield by Shanice Ketting-Olivier(Surrey, BC). An error on the very same play allowed Ketting-Olivier to racearound the bases to third. She later scored on Stephanie Gallant’s secondtriple of the game, as Canada took the 4-0 win.
JayceeAffeldt pitched 5 2/3 solid innings for Canada, allowing only one hit whilestriking out five batters. ShannaWilson (Peterborough, ON) retired one batter in relief in the sixth, andJennifer Gilbert pitched the bottom of the seventh for the save, allowing a hitwith a pair of strikeouts.
StephanieGallant (two triples) and Jennifer Gilbert paced the Canadian bats with twohits apiece, while Shanice Ketting-Olivier, Tessa Loewen and Shannon Davidsoneach had a hit. Jennifer Gilbert and Kristy Noble (Uxbridge,ON) each stole a base. Rosaury Perez from the Dominican Republic had both ofher team’s hits.
Inthe game against Japan, Karissa Hovinga outpitched Japanese pitcher NanaOkamura but still ended up on the losing end of a 1-0 decision in nine innings.Tarah Ettinger(Plainfield, Illinois) singled with two outs in the top of the first, but wasleft stranded. In the bottom of the inning, Japan threatened by getting arunner on third on two errors and a passed ball, but a huge double-play keptthe game scoreless. The following inning, Kristy Noble hit a one-out single butwas thrown out trying to steal second.
Japanregistered its first hit of the game in the third, and was able to push thatrunner to third on another error, but Hovinga ended the threat with astrikeout. Canada later added their third hit of the game in the sixth – atwo-out single by Tessa Loewen – but was not able to bring her in to scoreeither. In the seventh, CourtneyKwasnitza (Stonewall, MB) smashed a two-out triple to left field, but agroundout ended Canada’s hopes at a late-inning win. After the Japanese wereretired in order, the game went to extra innings.
Inthe top half of the eighth with a runner beginning on second base(international tie-breaking rule), Canada sacrificed the runner to third and eventuallyloaded the bases with two outs after a pair of walks, but was not able to getthe big hit. Canada shut down Japan in the bottom of the inning to extend thegame into the ninth. After Canada got yet another runner to third and left herstranded again, Japan took advantage of two Canadian errors to score thewinning run.
KarissaHovinga pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits with 10 strikeouts, whilethe Canadian bats produced four hits but was not able to produce the timelyone.
Withthe loss, Canada fell to 3-1 while Japan improved to 4-0 in Pool A. Canada willwrap up its preliminary round schedule against Russia (1-2) Thursday morning at10:00am EDT.
Inother scores at the Easton Foundation Youth World Cup, the Netherlands shut outVenezuela 7-0 last night. Earlier today, Russia defeated South Africa 8-1 andPuerto Rico beat Venezuela 10-0.
-SC-
Formore information, please contact:
GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)523-3386 x3105
