July2014

Canada Suffers First Loss at General Tire World Cup of Softball IIX

July 11, 2014

Irvine, CA

Canada Suffers First Loss at General Tire World Cup of Softball IX

The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11th, 2014
 

Canada Suffers First Loss at
General Tire World Cup of Softball IX

(Irvine, California) After four impressive wins to begin the tournament, the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team suffered its first loss of the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX with a 5-3 loss to the United States. The Americans jumped to a 4-0 lead after four innings of play before Canada battled back to cut the lead to one run with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the United States added an insurance marker in the top of the seventh and held on for the win.
 
Sara Plourde (Fredericton, NB) started the game in the pitcher’s circle for Canada, and struck out the first two batter she faced before allowing a single to Lauren Gibson. However, Plourde induced a ground ball to second base to leave Gibson stranded. After Canada went down in order in the bottom of the first, the Americans got another single Hallie Wilson followed by an error to put two runners on base, but Plourde was once again able to get out of the inning when Wilson was caught stealing at third base for the final out. Megan Gurski (Dalmeny, SK) had a one-out infield single in the bottom of the frame, but the next two batters struck out.
 
The United States opened the scoring by putting up three runs in the top of the third. With one out, Michelle Moultrie lined a single to centerfield and after a pop out for the second out, Gibson doubled to right to push Moultrie in to score, and Valerie Arioto followed that up with a two-run homerun to center to give the Americans a 3-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, BC) hit an infield single with one out and was sacrificed to second, but the next batter struck out to keep Canada off the scoresheet.
 
Team USA added a run in the top of the fourth as Gibson hit a single to score Haylie McClenie from second base, who had reached base with a single earlier in the inning. Canada managed to get a runner on base on an error with one out in the bottom of the fourth but the next two batters struck out to leave the runner at first. After USA went down in order in the top half of the fifth, Canada was able to get thing going in their own half of the inning. Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and after a strikeout, Franklin hit an infield single and Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) walked to load the bases. Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON) hit an infield single of her own to push Timpf in to score, and Jen Yee (North Delta, BC) hit a ground ball to second base to score another run on a fielder’s choice, and the second baseman’s throw was off line to allow Lye to score as well, cutting the lead to 4-3.
 
Looking to add an insurance run, the Americans got a runner on base on an error in the top of the sixth and after she moved up to second on a ground out, Raven Chavanne singled to centerfield and Franklin fired a perfect throw to the plate to retire the runner at the plate and end the inning. Team Canada got two runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the inning when Timpf was hit by a pitch once again and the next batter reached on an error, but a ground out to third end the threat.
 
Gibson led off the top of the seventh with a walk and was replaced by a pinch runner, who moved ahead all the way to third on a groundout before scoring on a squeeze play to increase USA’s lead to 5-3. Canada managed a two-out single by Yee in the bottom of the seventh, but the following batter grounded out to end the game.
 
Box Score: United States 5 vs. Canada 3
 
Plourde pitched two innings and two thirds, allowing three runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) came on and pitched three innings and a third of relief, limiting the Americans to one run on four hits and a walk and struck out one, while Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) pitched the seventh inning, allowing one run on no hits and a walk to go along with a pair of strikeouts. Canada registered five hits in the game, including a pair of infield singles by Franklin and singles by Yee, Hayward and Gurski.
 
Other scores at the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX late Wednesday night and on Thursday were:
 
- United States 13 vs. Philippines 1 (5 innings)
- Chinese Taipei 3 vs. Mexico
- Japan 10 vs. Philippines 1 (5 innings)
 
With the loss, Team Canada dropped its record to 4-1 and will get a day off on Friday before wrapping up its round-robin schedule against Mexico (1-2) at 12:30pm PDT on Saturday. The United States are the only remaining team without a loss at 3-0, while Japan sits at 3-1. Chinese Taipei is 1-2, and Venezuela and the Philippines are both 1-4. For live scoring, visit the event’s website.

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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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