ISF XIII Men's World Championship - Game 3
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 2, 2013
Canada Blanks Mexico at ISF Men's World Championship
(Auckland, New Zealand) The Canadian Men's National Team improved to 3-0 with a 6-0 shutout win over Mexico to open the third day of the ISF XIII Men's World Championship. Andy Skelton (Scarborough, ON) fired a two-hitter for the complete game shutout, while Canada scored four runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach for good.
In the top of the first inning, Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) drew a leadoff walk, but was retired at second base as Bryan Abrey (Richmond, BC) reached on a fielder's choice. Jeff Ellsworth (St. Lawrence, PEI) then hit the second pitch he saw for a double to score Abrey all the way from first to give Canada an early 1-0 lead. After Mexico went down in order in the bottom of the inning, Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON) and Jason Sanford (Durham, NS) connected with back-to-back one-out singles, but were not able to advance any further as Mexican starting pitcher Eduardo Escobedo got a big strikeout and forced a fly ball to right field to get out of the inning.
Skelton retired the Mexicans in order in each of the first three innings, while Escobedo did the same in the bottom of the third. In the top of the fourth, Fehrman drew a leadoff walk but was picked off at first base, and Kevin Schellenberg (Squamish, BC) later hit a two-out single, but the next batter grounded out. In the bottom of the frame, Mexico was able to get its first hit of the game with two outs, but Skelton induced a fly ball to centerfield to leave the runner stranded.
In the top of the fifth, Abrey reach on an error and Ellsworth attempted to sacrifice him over to second, but the catcher fired the ball to first to retire Ellsworth and Abrey was tagged out at second. Brad Ezekiel (Harbour Main, NL) then singled, but the next batter grounded out to end the threat. Mexico managed a one-out single in the bottom of the inning, but Skelton got a ground out back to the pitcher and notched a strikeout to leave the runner stranded.
The following inning, Stephen Mullaley (Freshwater, NL) led off with a single, and pinch-hitter Ryan Wolfe (Melbourne, ON) later drew a one-out walk. After a fly out on the infield, Roy also forced a walk to load the bases, and Abrey was hit by a pitch to bring a run in to score. Skelton retired Mexico in order once again in the bottom half of the sixth.
Ezekiel led off the top of the seventh with a walk, followed by a single by Skelton. Mullaley laid a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away at first, allowing Ezekiel to score and Skelton to move up to third. Mullaley advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Fehrman forced a walk to load the bases with no outs. Sanford then hit a two-run single to left field, and both he and Fehrman advanced to second and third on a wild pitch before Schellenberg reached on an error to load the bases once again, still with nobody out. After a fielder's choice retired Fehrman at the plate and a lineout, Jason Hill (St. John's, NL) hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 6-0. Skelton closed out the game by retiring Mexico in order to seal the win.
At the plate, Sanford had two hits and drove in two runs, with Abrey, Hill and Ellsworth each driving in one. Ellsworth, Hill, Ezekiel, Skelton, Mullaley, Fehrman and Schellenberg each had a hit to complete Canada's nine-hit attack. Skelton allowed only two hits and struck out nine for the seven inning shutout win.
Box Score and Play by Play: Canada 6 vs. Mexico 0
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Team Canada (3-0) will play its next game against New Zealand (2-0) at 1:30am EST early on Monday morning on Diamond 1.
Tournament Standings (from the International Softball Federation website)
Live Streaming All games on Diamond 1 are streamed LIVE All games on Diamond 2 are available ON DEMAND
All live streaming is a pay to access service for the cost of $10 USD per day. Details are available at the official tournament website: http://www.softball2013.com/.
iscore - Live Scoring Updates iscore Softball is the easiest way to track the Tradestaff ISF Men's World Softball Championships. It has everything you need to track and review a game and does not require you to buy any software - this free service will be available at the following link: www.softball.org.nz/Tradestaff+WSC+2013+Results.html
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How to Follow Team Canada Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SoftballCanada
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For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc Manager - Marketing and Communications Softball Canada (613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
