Australia Shuts Out Canada at ISF Junior Men’s
World Softball Championship

(Whitehorse, YT) The Canadian Junior Men’s National Team suffered its second straight loss at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championship, as Australia limited the red and white to three hits in a 5-0 win. Aussie pitcher Jerremyah Selu kept the Canadian bats silenced all night as he struck out ten batters to earn the shutout win. Tyler Randerson (New Hamburg, ON) kept the game close until top of the fifth inning when he surrendered a two-run homerun to give Australia a 3-0 lead, and they never looked back.
 
In the top of the first inning, Australia got a base runner on a one-out walk, but Randerson struck out the next two batters to leave that runner stranded. Canada went down in order on a groundout to the pitcher and a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the frame. The following inning, Australia opened the scoring when Tyrell Priestley forced a two-out walk, stole second and scored on an error. In the bottom of the inning, Canada got a one-out walk by Curtis Piecowye (Saskatoon, SK) who went on to advance to second on a passed ball, and then Matt Pilon (Duck Lake, SK) singled up the middle to push Piecowye to third and advanced to second on a heads up play on the throw to the plate to put runners on second third. However, the next batter grounded out to the pitcher followed by a strikeout as Canada could not push anyone in to score.
 
Randerson walked the leadoff batter in the top of the third, but after the runner was sacrificed over to second, he induced a pop out on the infield and a groundout to shortstop to get out of the inning. Canada went down in order in the bottom half of the inning. After both teams went down in order in the fourth, Australia was able to get to Randerson in the fifth. Stuart Perry hit a leadoff double, and after Taylor Schubada (Irma, AB) made a terrific diving catch in foul territory to catch a bunt attempt, Callum Beashel belted a two-run homerun over the left field fence to increase the lead to 3-0. They weren’t done there, as the next batter walked and advanced to second on an error before scoring on a single to add another run for Australia.
 
In the top of the sixth, Australia got a leadoff single as Eric Healey (Chapels Cove, NL) came on in relief of Randerson. A sacrifice bunt pushed the runner to second, and after a groundout to the pitcher for the second out, the runner scored on an error to make the score 5-0. Canada tried to respond in the bottom of the sixth as Tyler Pauli (Mitchell, ON) lined a pitch into left field for a one-out single, later followed by a single by Schubada to put two runners on base with two outs, but the next hitter struck out to end the threat. Both teams went down in order in the seventh as Australia cruised to victory.
 
Box Score: Australia 5 vs. Canada 0
 
Randerson pitched well but allowed five runs – three earned – on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts in five innings of work. Healey pitched two innings of scoreless relief to go along with two strikeouts. Pauli, Schubada and Pilon were the only ones to manage a hit for Canada, all singles.
 
Other scores on the fifth day of competition at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championship were:
 
- New Zealand 2 vs. Japan 1
- Mexico 13 vs. Singapore 0 (4 innings)
- Czech Republic 4 vs. Denmark 2
- Argentina 5 vs. New Zealand 0
- United States 4 vs. Japan 2
 
Team Canada (2-3) will be back in action with a doubleheader against Mexico (2-3) at 2:00pm PDT followed by Denmark (1-5) at 7:30pm PDT on Wednesday. Live Pointstreak scoring, webstreaming and Ballpark Radio broadcast will be available through the ISF IX Junior Men’s World Championship’s official website: http://worldfastpitch2014.com/en/home/.

The event can also be followed on Facebook (2014 Junior Men’s World Softball) and Twitter (@2014jrsoftball).
 
How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SoftballCanada
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SoftballCanadaNSO