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July2014

Canada Earns Spot in Championship Game with Win over Mexico at General Tire World Cup of Softball IIX

July 12, 2014

Irvine, CA

Canada Earns Spot in Championship Game with Win over Mexico at General Tire World Cup of Softball IX

The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12th, 2014
 

Canada Earns Spot in Championship Game with Win over Mexico at General Tire World Cup of Softball IX

(Irvine, California) The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team earned a spot in the Championship game of the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX with an 8-2 win over Mexico. Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, BC) pitched four strong innings and got some help from Brooke Seneshen (Winnipeg, MB) to finish the game, while Jen Yee (North Delta, BC) was dangerous all day at the plate and the Canadian bats kept rolling to power past the Mexicans.
 
In the top of the first inning, Yee smashed a two-out double off the right-center field fence, but the next batter popped out in foul territory. In the bottom of the inning, Groenewegen struck out the first two batters she faced and forced a pop out to third base. Team Canada got a leadoff walk by Megan Gurski (Dalmeny, SK), who was sacrificed to second and advanced to third on a single to right by Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) to put runners on the corners, but the two next hitters popped out as Mexico got out of the inning. The Mexicans managed a leadoff single in their own half of the inning, but Groenewegen induced a pop up, fielded a sacrifice bunt for the second out and struck out the following batter.
 
Canada opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the third inning. Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) lined a single to centerfield, and after a strikeout, Yee delivered a two-run homerun over the centerfield fence. After Groenewegen sat the Mexicans down in order in the bottom of the third, Timpf hit a one-out double to centerfield, but was left stranded. In the bottom half of the fourth, Mexico got back-to-back two-out singles by Melissa Taukeiaho and Adriana Perez, but the next batter popped out as Canada got out of the inning.
 
In the top of fifth inning, Lye dropped a drag bunt single and was sacrificed over to second by Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON). Yee was intentionally walked, and Carey-Leigh Thomas (Ohsweken, ON) blasted a three-run shot over the centerfield fence. Team Canada then proceeded to load the bases on an error and walks by Gurski and Timpf. Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) then laced a two-run single to left field. After Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, BC) singled to load the bases again, the next batter flew out to center to end the inning with Canada up 7-0. In the bottom of the frame, Mexico got a baserunner on second with an error with one out, and Grecia Garcia pushed her in to score with a single to left, avoiding the run rule with the score 7-1.
 
Team Canada got a leadoff single by Chelsea Jenner (Abbotsford, BC) in the top of the sixth, and after a walk by Yee, Thomas hit a ground ball to first base to move the runners up, but the next batter hit a ground ball to the pitcher who caught Jenner in a rundown between third base and the plate. A walk by Erika Polidori (Brantford, ON) loaded the bases, but the following batter flew out. Seneshen, who came on in relief of Groenewegen to start the bottom of the fifth inning, retired the side in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Canada added a run in the top of the seventh when Lye drew a two-out walk and scored all the way from first on a double to left-center field by Jenner. In the bottom of the seventh, Mexico got a solo homerun by Jessica Traxler with two outs, but that’s as close as Mexico would get as Canada earned the 8-2 win to punch its ticket to the Championship game.
 
Box Score: Canada 8 vs. Mexico 2
 
Groenewegen pitched four solid innings for Canada, picking up the win by allowing no runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Seneshen earned the three-inning save, allowing two runs – one earned – on two hits and a walk while striking out five. Yee had a big day at the plate with a homerun, a double, two walks, two runs batted in and two runs scored. Thomas belted a three-run homerun, while Lye, Jenner and Timpf each added a pair of hits. Wideman chipped in with a two-run single and Franklin also had a single to round out the hits.
 
Other scores at the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX on Friday and early Saturday were:
 
- Mexico 1 vs. Venezuela 0
- Chinese Taipei 16 vs. Philippines 1 (5 innings)
- United States 8 vs. Japan 1 (5 innings)
- United States 3 vs. Mexico 2
 
Later games on Saturday include United States (5-0) taking on Chinese Taipei (2-2) at 5:00pm PDT and Japan (3-2) also taking on Chinese Taipei at 7:00pm PDT.
 
With the win, Canada earned a spot in the Championship game against the United States for the first time in the tournament’s history, which will be played at 10:00am PDT on Sunday morning live on ESPN. The game will also air on TSN2 at 9:00pm PDT (midnight EDT). Other placement games will be played later in the day. 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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