FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2012
Canada Finishes Fourth at ISF XIII Women's World Championship (Whitehorse, YK) In their second playoff game of the day, the Canadian Women`s National Team gave a valiant effort but lost to Australia by a 3-1 score to finish fourth at the ISF XIII Women's World Championship. Stacey Porter had two solo homeruns to send the Aussies to the Bronze medal game, while Canada missed out on a few opportunities to score as they were eliminated from the tournament.
Australia wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Porter connected with a deep homerun to centerfield on the third pitch of the game. The next batter singled, and after a fly out, two consecutive singles would have loaded the bases, but the second runner rounded second base too far and was caught out on the cut. Canadian starting pitcher
Danielle Lawrie (Langley, BC) struck out the next batter to get out of the inning and limit the damage.
The Aussies went back to work in the second inning, scoring a run on a single by Leigh Godfrey, giving Australia an early 2-0 lead. After a quick third inning, Canada cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when
Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) led off by lining a triple into the first base line corner and immediately scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by
Jenn Yee (North Delta, BC).
Team Canada got something going again in the fifth, as
Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, NY) reached on a one-out drag bunt single and advanced to second on a single by
Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON). However, a fielder`s choice retired Timpf at second, and the next batter flew out to end the threat. The red and white also threatened in the sixth after Lye led off with a single, but was retired at second on a fielder`s choice. After a walk put runners on first and second with one out, the following batter struck out and
Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) smashed a hard line drive deep to right field that was just snared by the outfielder, as Australia kept the 2-1 lead heading into the seventh.
In the top of the inning, Stacey Porter lined a one-out solo homerun over the right field fence to add an insurance run for Australia. In the bottom of the seventh, Lever singled over the shortstop`s head to lead off the inning, moved up to second on a groundout to second base and to third on a groundout to short, but the next batter grounded out to first base to end the game, as Australia eliminated Canada from medal contention.
Lawrie allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with two strikeouts in two innings pitched for Canada, while
Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) pitched five innings of relief, allowing a run on three hits with four strikeouts. Both Lye and Lever went two-for-three at the plate for Canada, while Timpf had Canada`s fifth hit.
Box score and play by play:
Canada 1 vs. Australia 3 Australia now advances to the medal round as they will take on Japan at 1:00pm PDT on Sunday. The winner of that game will earn the opportunity to face the United States in the Gold medal game at 4:00pm PDT.
For full coverage, visit the tournament website at http://www.worldfastpitch2012.com.
How to Follow Team Canada Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
2012 Team Canada Media Guide: http://www.softballcanada.info/2012TeamCanadaMediaGuide.pdf
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For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 795-1996 (cell)
gleblanc@softball.ca
