(Surrey, BC) The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team improved their record to 2-0 at the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship last night with a 3-0 shutout win over Australia. Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) pitched five solid scoreless innings with Sara Plourde (Fredericton, NB) picking up the two inning save, while Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON) had three hits and drove a run and Jenny Gilbert (Saskatoon, SK) hit a solo homerun to lead Team Canada to victory.

The red and white got right to work in the top of the first inning, as leadoff batter Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) singled and stole second base before a walk put two runners on base with one out. However, a fielder’s choice and a fly out kept Canada off the scoreboard. Clare Warwick hit a one-out single in the bottom of the frame, but was quickly retired on a double play. Building off the momentum of that play, Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) hit a one-out single, was sacrificed to second base and went on to score on a single by Hayward to open the scoring.

After Caira retired Australia in order in the bottom of the second, Canada once again kept the pressure on as Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, NY) led off with a single, bringing on a pitching change for Australia. The move paid off, as the next three batters were retired to leave Lever stranded. The Australians got a leadoff single of their own in the bottom of the third, but Caira induced three groundouts to keep them off the scoreboard. Australia threatened again in the bottom of the fourth, with Stacey Porter hitting a one-out single and advanced to second on an error when the next batter reached on a fielder’s choice to put two runners on base. However, Caira one again kept the ball down in the strike zone and was able to get out of trouble with two more groundouts.

Both teams exchanged singles in the fifth but were unable to move the runners up before Canada added a big insurance run on a solo homerun to deep centerfield by Gilbert with one out in the top of the sixth. Plourde came on in relief in the bottom of the inning and promptly struck out the side. Canada would go on to add a run in the top of the seventh as Hayward hit a two-out triple and scored on a single by Lye. In the bottom of the frame, Australia got a one-out walk followed by a single and a ground out moved the runners ahead to second and third, but Plourde struck out the next batter to end the game.

Box score and play-by-play: Canada 3 vs. Australia 0

Caira allowed four hits and struck out two in five innings to pick up the win in the pitcher’s circle, while Plourde struck out four and gave up a hit and a walk in two innings for the save. Hayward sparked Canada offensively with a triple, two singles and a run batted in, while Lye had a pair of singles and an RBI. Gilbert added a solo homerun with Wideman and Lever chipping in with singles to complete Canada’s eight-hit attack.

In other action on Wednesday, the California A’s (1-2) double Venezuela (1-2) by a score of 4-2, and the United States (2-0) defeated Japan (0-2) 10-3 in six innings. Team Canada will be back in action as they will take on Japan at 6:30pm PDT tonight.

Live Pointstreak scoring is available for all tournament games, and live webstreaming is also available for the Women’s International division of the tournament at a cost of $4.99 for individual games or $19.99 for the tournament package. Visit the official tournament website at www.canadiaopenfastpitch.com for live scoring and webstream information.
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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