Â
Canada Opens Pan American Championship  with Win over Mexico
Â
(Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team opened the VIII Pan American Softball Championship with a 1-0 win over Mexico, taking advantage of a costly error in the bottom of the fifth for the game’s only run. Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) allowed only four hits and struck out eight over six innings to earn the win, while Sara Plourde (Fredericton, NB) registered the save by pitching a hitless seventh inning, striking out two batters.   Mexico put two runners on base in the top of the first on a single and a walk, but Caira induced a ground ball to first base to leave two runners on base. In the bottom of the second, Jenny Gilbert (Saskatoon, SK) drew a leadoff walk and Sara Hopwood (Surrey, BC) later singled to put runners on first and third with one out, but Mexican pitcher Diana Castillo got a pop out and a strikeout to hold Canada off the scoreboard.   In the third inning, Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) was hit by a pitch followed by a single by Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON) to put two runners on base with no outs, but a fly out and a double play ended any chance to score. Mexico also got two runners on base in both the fourth and fifth innings, but was unable to cash them in either. Team Canada finally opened the scoring in the bottom of the frame. Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second, and after a pop out on the infield for the second out, Hayward lifted another pop up to shortstop that was dropped, allowing Timpf to score and give Canada a 1-0 lead.   Mexico got two runners on base in the top of the sixth on a dropped third strike and a single, but Caira struck out the following batter to end the inning. Plourde came in for the save in the seventh inning and allowed a one-out walk, but struck out the next batter followed by a pop out to end the game.   Canada only managed three hits in the game on singles by Hayward, Hopwood and Jen Yee (North Delta, BC), while Mexico produced four hits but could not score.   Box Score and Play-by-Play: Canada 1 vs. Mexico 0   Canada (1-0) will be back in action on Sunday when they will take on the Dominican Republic at 2:00pm EDT. In other games with available scores on Saturday, the United States beat Aruba 16-0, Venezuela defeated Belize 5-0, Puerto Rico blanked Peru 8-0, and Brazil defeated the US Virgin Islands 14-0 and Colombia 5-0.   The tournament website can be found at http://clasico-panamericano.softballpr.net/, with streaming of some games available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/15266213 (streaming schedule is not currently available).  -SC-
 For more information, please contact:
 Gilles LeBlanc  Manager - Marketing and Communications  Softball Canada  (613) 523-3386 ext. 3105 gleblanc@softball.ca
