march2013

Canada Loses First Playoff Game to Venezuela at the ISF Men's World Championship

March 8, 2013

Auckland, NZ

ISF XIII Men's World Championship - Playoff 1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 8, 2013
Canada Loses First Playoff Game to Venezuela at the ISF Men's World Championship
(Auckland, New Zealand) The Canadian Men`s National Team lost its opening playoff game by a score of 3-1 against Venezuela at the ISF XIII Men's World Championship. Canada only managed two hits off the pitching tandem of Erick Urbaneja and Ramon Jones, while Rafael Flores provided a two-run homerun in the fourth inning that eventually led Venezuela to the win. Canada will now face a tougher road to get back to the medal round, as they will need a pair of wins on Friday to reach it.


In the top of the first inning, Venezuela got things started with a pair of walks followed by a single to left field by Edwin Linares to score the first run of the game, with the runner advancing to second and third behind him. The runner on third attempted to score on a wild pitch, but catcher Ryan Boland (St. John's, NL) made a great play to pick up the ball and dive to the plate to tag the runner out, and Canadian pitcher Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, NL) struck out the next two batters to end the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) led off with a four pitch walk, but the three next batters were retired to leave him at first as Urbaneja struck out the last two batters looking.


Cleary settled down and retired Venezuela in order in the second, forcing a ground out to shortstop and striking out two batters. Andy Skelton (Scarborough, ON) was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the second, was sacrificed to second by Stephen Mullaley (Freshwater, NL), and moved to third on a ground out off the pitcher's foot by Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON). However, the next batter grounded out on a solid hit to second base to end the threat.


Cleary struck out the side in the top of the third, and Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) hit a ground ball that the first baseman couldn't handle, and slid in to first base to beat the pitcher`s attempt to get him out by rolling the ball to first with his glove. Roy sacrificed Horn over to second with a great bunt down the first base line, but a strikeout and a fly out got Venezuela out of the inning.


In the top of the fourth, Cleary walked the leadoff batter, and Rafael Flores hit a high fly ball over the centerfield fence for a two-run homerun, increasing Venezuela's lead to 3-0. Carlos Ojeda hit a one-out single to force a pitching change for Canada, with Paul Koert (Brooklin, ON) coming in to the game. The runner advanced to second on a passed ball followed by a walk, but the next batter flew out to centerfield and the throw to third was cut off nicely to get the trailing runner out at second. Brad Ezekiel (Harbour Main, NL) led off the bottom of the inning with a single up the middle, and after a strikeout, Mullaley drove a pitch to right-center field past a diving right fielder for a triple to score Ezekiel. After another strikeout, Boland stroked a sinking line drive that was caught by a diving right fielder to end the inning.


After Koert retired Venezuela in order in the fifth, Roy drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning and Venezuela made a pitching change to Ramon Jones, who immediately forced a double play to end the inning. Don Scott (Stratford, ON) came in to pitch to start the following inning, and he made quick work of Venezuela with two strikeouts and a fly out. After two quick outs to Canada, Skelton walked, but the next batter grounded out to the pitcher.


Scott struck out the first two hitters in the top of the seventh inning before giving up a single, but struck out the next batter on three pitches to send the game to the bottom of the seventh. However, Canada could not get anything going, as Jones forced a ground ball back to the pitcher`s circle and struck out the next two batters to end the game.


Canada did not get many hits but did put a runner on almost every inning, with the only hits going to Ezekiel and Mullaley in the fourth. Cleary allowed three runs on three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in three innings and a third of work. Koert pitched an inning and a third of relief, allowing only a walk and struck out a batter, while Scott pitched the last two innings allowing a hit and striking out five.
Box Score and Play by Play: Canada 1 vs. Venezuela 3


In playoff action earlier in the day, Japan eliminated Samoa with a 4-2 win, Argentina eliminated the United States by beating them 9-2 and New Zealand had a thrilling 5-4 win in 10 innings over Australia.


With the loss, Team Canada (6-2) will now face Argentina (6-2) in an elimination game at 8:00pm EST. Other games will include Japan (6-2) taking on Australia (7-1) at 5:30pm EST with the losing team being eliminated and the winning team will take on the winner of the Canada/Argentina game at 1:30am EST. Venezuela (6-2) and New Zealand (7-1) - who are both guaranteed for the medal round on Saturday - will face off at 11:00pm EST.


Live Streaming All playoff games will be streamed LIVE
All live streaming is a pay to access service for the cost of $5 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

 


How to Follow Team Canada Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca

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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

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