FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9th, 2011

Team Canada opens Canadian Open Fastpitch Championship with Big Win over Venezuela

(Surrey, BC) The Canadian Senior Women's National Team got off to a quick start at the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship, using an eight-run second inning to cruise to an 8-1 run rule win over Venezuela in five innings. The Team Canada hitters were patient at the plate and opportunistic with runners on base and two outs, leading them to the big inning that was all they needed to get past an otherwise solid Venezuelan squad.

After a quick first inning, Venezuelan starting pitcher Maria Gomez had trouble finding the strike zone in the second. Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) led off with a four pitch walk, and was sacrificed to second by Kelsey Haberl (Burnaby, BC) before Danielle Lopez (Barrie, ON) took another walk. Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) followed up with a double to score Rafter for the first run of the game, and Meagan Baird (Ajax, ON) fouled off several pitches before forcing a walk to load the bases with one out. After a fielder's choice cut down a run at the plate for the second out, Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) drove a two-run single and advanced to second on the throw, giving Canada a 3-0 lead. Megan Timpf (Port Dover ON) was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and Jennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) walked to bring in another run. Kaleigh Rafter then drove a single up the middle to score two more runs, which was followed by Yee scoring on a wild pitch and Kelsey Haberl driving in Rafter with a single to push the lead to 8-0.

After the big inning, both teams tightened up defensively, as Canadian starting pitcher Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) cruised through three innings before giving way to Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) who came out in relief in the fourth inning. After all eight runs were scored in the second, Adriana Velasquez came on in relief of Maria Gomez, and held Canada to only one hit over the last three and a third innings.

Venezuela got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, as Yuruby Alicart drew a leadoff walk, followed by a single by Estefanny Duno and an RBI double by Yaicey Sojo. Hovinga then settled down by striking out the next hitter, and later forcing Venezuela to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Melanie Matthews and Kaleigh Rafter each had a hit and two runs batted in for Canada, with Jenn Yee, Kelsey Haberl and Joey Lye each driving in one run. Both teams managed five hits in the game, with Canada's six walks playing a large part in the outcome of the game.

Jenna Caira earned the win in the pitcher's circle, allowing only two hits in three innings of work with three strikeouts. Karissa Hovinga allowed one earned run on three hits, with one walk and a strikeout.

Team Canada will be back in action on Sunday with a pair of games. They will start the day with a game against Japan at 10:30am PDT, and will then take on Australia at 6:30pm. Both games will be played at Softball City.

For live scoring and a live video feed of all International Women's division games, please visit the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship website at www.canadianopenfastpitch.com.

Canada 8 vs. Venezuela 1 - Box Score and Play-by-Play

For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca