PuertoRico Beats Canada in Extra Innings at Youth World Cup
August 14, 2009
Prague, CZ
FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE
August14th, 2009
PuertoRico Beats Canada in Extra Innings at Youth World Cup
(Prague,Czech Republic) – The Canadian Women’s U16 National Softball Team put up plentyof runs on the board but ultimately fell just short in a wild playoff gameagainst Puerto Rico, losing 11-10 in 11 innings. After taking a 3-0 lead intothe bottom of the fourth, Canada allowed five Puerto Rican runs in the bottomof the inning, and re-took a 6-5 lead after six innings of play before PuertoRico tied the score in the bottom of the seventh inning. Both teams scoredthree runs in the ninth, and each had one in the tenth before Puerto Ricofinally scored the winning run in the bottom of the eleventh.
TeamCanada opened the scoring with a run in the top of the third, as Shannon Davidson (Whitby,ON) led off with an infield single, moved to second on a perfect bunt by Melissa Palmer(Mascouche, QC) who was called safe at first and later scored on a single by Jennifer Gilbert(McKinney, Texas). The following inning, Tarah Ettinger(Plainfield, Illinois) led off with a single, and scored when Miranda Castiglione (Brampton,ON) laid down a bunt that was thrown away down the right field line. Jaycee Affeldt (MapleRidge, BC) then singled to score Castiglione from third, giving Canada a 3-0lead.
PuertoRico then woke up with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, as they loadedthe bases and scored all five runs with two outs, taking advantage of twoCanadian errors to prolong the inning. Canada wasted no time to tie the gamethe following inning, as Jennifer Gilbert led off with a double, stole thirdbase, and after a walk by Miranda Castiglione, scored on a single by Stephanie Gallant (Ajax,ON). Jaycee Affeldt then singled up the middle to push Castiglione to theplate, knotting the game at 5-5.
Canadaadded a run in the top of the sixth despite not registering a hit, as Nicole Miller (Didsbury,AB) led off with a walk and was replaced by Shanice Ketting-Olivier(Surrey, BC) on the base path. Ketting-Olivier advanced to second and then tothird on two fielder’s choices, and scored on a throwing error to give Canadathe 6-5 lead. However, Puerto Rico tied the game in the bottom of the seventhto extend the game to extra innings.
Afterboth teams failed to score a run in the eight, Canada quickly loaded the baseswith no outs, as a runner started on second due to the international tie-breakerrule and Jennifer Gilbert hit an infield single followed by a walk to Tessa Loewen (Abbotsford,BC). After a fielder’s choice produced two outs on a force out to third and atag at home, Miranda Castiglione put the ball in play and reached on an errorby the right fielder, allowing two runs to score. Canada then added a third runon a throwing error to take the 9-6 lead.
PuertoRico then put the pressure on Canada, as they scored three runs on three hitsand two errors, forcing the game into the tenth inning. Canada was once againable to push a run across on an error, but Puerto Rico once again respondedwith a run to tie the game at 10-10. Canada got runners on second and thirdwith no outs in the top of the eleventh, but the runner on third was picked offby the catcher, and Puerto Rico was able to escape the threat without allowinga run. In the bottom half of the inning, the Puerto Ricans were able to getrunners to second and third as well, but Canada was able to get two outs beforea wild pitch allowed the winning run to score from third.
Karissa Hovinga (LaVista, Nebraska) threw an amazing ten innings for Canada, allowing nine runs(five earned) on 11 hits, striking out nine batters. Hovinga re-entered thegame after she was relieved by Shanna Wilson(Peterborough, ON) in the fourth inning, who recorded two outs while allowingtwo runs (one earned) on one hit.
Thered and white pounded out ten hits, led by Jennifer Gilbert who produced three.Jaycee Affeldt added two hits, while Tarah Ettinger, Stephanie Gallant, ShannonDavidson, Melissa Palmer and Olivia Zwick (Surrey, BC)all chipped in with one. Canada committed five errors in the game, while PuertoRico committed eight.
Thewin pushed Puerto Rico (6-0) in the 1 vs. 2 playoff game against Japan (6-0),while Canada (4-2) will face a tougher road to get to the medal round. Canadawill start off by taking on the Netherlands (4-2) at 4:00am EDT on Saturday.The winner of that game will go on to face the winner of a game between theDominican Republic (4-2) and the Czech Republic (4-2) at 11:30am EDT.
Inother playoff action on Friday, the Netherlands eliminated Italy with a 4-2win, the Dominican Republic eliminated Venezuela with a 2-0 win, and Japan beatthe Czech Republic 3-0.
Saturday’sPlayoff Games:
4:00amEDT: Game #35 - Canada vs. Netherlands
6:30amEDT: Game #36 - Dominican Republic vs. Czech Republic
9:00amEDT: Game #37 - Puerto Rico vs. Japan
11:30amEDT: Winner of Game #35 vs. Winner of Game #36
Fortournament information, scores and schedules, please visit the official websiteat http://ywc.softball.cz. All remaininggames can now be seen on the live webcam at http://89.24.132.153:850/and there is live scoring (each half inning) through the “Schedule” page.
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Formore information, please contact:
GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)523-3386 x3105
