FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14th, 2011
Canada Loses Twice to End Preliminary Round at Canadian Open Fastpitch Championship (Surrey, BC) With a record of 4-2 heading into the last day of the preliminary round of the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship, the Canadian Senior Women's National Team had their destiny in their hands to decide the standings heading into the playoff round on Friday, but was shut out twice to finish third in the five team International Women's division. Canada first suffered a tough 2-0 loss to Australia, before losing 8-0 in five innings to the United States.
In the first game against Australia, Jocelyn Cater (Delta, BC) made her first start for the Senior Women's National Team and took a few hitters to find her groove. After a walk to the leadoff hitter and a sacrifice that advanced her to second, Stacey Porter hit a solid single to right field to quickly open the scoring. In the bottom of the inning, Team Canada was looking to give their young starting pitcher some run support, loading the bases with one out on a hit by pitch to Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON), a single by Kelsey Haberl (Burnaby, BC) and an error that allowed Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) to reach base. However, the next hitter popped out on the infield followed by a ground out to second base as Canada was unable to deliver the key hit.
Cater then settled into her rhythm, forcing three quick fly outs in the second to bring Canada back up to bat. Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) had the crowd on their feet as she smashed a high fly ball deep to right field that hit the fence and rolled away from the right fielder for a stand up leadoff triple. The next batter lined out to third, followed by a fielder's choice on a ground ball hit to first base to retire Lye at the plate, and a fly out to end Canada's hopes of getting a run in the inning.
In the top of the fourth, Australia's Chelsea Forkin smacked a leadoff homerun to right field to give Australia a 2-0 lead. Canada would get two more hits in the bottom of the inning, but one was erased on a double play before another ground brought the inning to an end. The red and white managed another two-hit inning in the sixth, as Meagan Baird (Ajax, ON) and Joey Lye hit back-to-back two-out singles, but the next batter flew out to shortstop as Canada once again came up short. Both teams went down in order in the seventh as Australia came out with the 2-0 win despite being outhit 6-3.
Cater allowed two run on two hits and four walks, striking out one batter in four innings of work. Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) pitched three innings of relief, allowing only one hit and notching two strikeouts. At the plate, Joey Lye and Meagan Baird led the way with a pair of hits apiece, while Kelsey Haberl and Paige Collings (Delta, BC) each chipped in with one.
In the nightcap, Team Canada's usually solid defense made three errors and the American bats kept rolling as the United States won the game 8-0 in five innings. After escaping the bottom of the first without allowing a run after two errors and a hit, Canada also left two American runners stranded in the second before Team USA opened thing up in the third. With two outs and the bases loaded, Rhea Taylor scored on a passed ball before Christi Oregeron hit a two-run double to give USA a 3-0 lead. After Canada went down quietly in the fourth, the Americans scored five runs on a pair of homeruns - a three-run shot by Stacey Johnson and a two-run blast by Brittany Schutte - as USA extended the lead to 8-0. Canada went down in order in the top of the fifth to end the game on the run-ahead rule.
Canada only managed one hit on American starting pitcher Keilani Ricketts, who struck out six batters in five innings. Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) hit a single up the middle in the third. In the pitcher's circle for Canada, Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) allowed three runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts in three innings, while Sarah Phillips (Mississauga, ON) did not fare much better, allowing five runs - four earned - on four hits in one inning. She struck out two batters.
With the two losses, Canada finished the round robin with a 4-4 record. They will play Venezuela (0-8) at 3:30pm PDT at Softball City in their first game of the double-elimination playoff round on Friday.
Canada 0 vs. Australia 2 - Box Score and Play by Play Canada 0 vs. United States 8 - 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
