Canada Eliminated from Medal Contention at
ISF Junior Men’s World Softball Championship

(Whitehorse, YT) The Canadian Junior Men’s National Team was officially eliminated from playing in the playoff round at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championship, as they were defeated 7-0 in six innings by Japan. Canada needed a win to keep its playoff hopes alive, but were unable to get anything going against Japanese pitcher Kento Okazaki, while Japan hit three homeruns to win on the run-ahead rule. Canada will now compete in the consolation round after the preliminary wraps up on Friday.
 
In the top of the first inning, Canada got a two-out walk by Taylor Schubada (Irma, AB), but the next better struck out to leave him stranded at first. Japan did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard, as the leadoff batter singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Hideo Morita. After Morita stole second, Okazaki hit a run-scoring single as Japan jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
 
In the top of the second inning, Matt Pilon (Duck Lake, SK) hit a leadoff single on a ground ball to second that was not caught cleanly by the second baseman, but the next batter popped up a bunt attempt followed by a fly out to left field and a strikeout as Canada could not move Pilon further.
 
Canadian starting pitcher Johnathan Baker (Kitchener, ON) shook off the tough first inning and was able to retire Japan in order in each of the next two innings, but Canada was unable to get anyone on base either. Japan added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth after a leadoff single and a big two-run homerun by Okazaki. The following batter walked and immediately scored on a double to increase the lead to 5-0.
 
Francois-Charles Rene (St-Leonard-d’Aston, QC) hit a one-out single in the top of the fifth on a ground ball up the middle, but a strikeout and a pop out left him on base. In the bottom of the frame, Kinjo Haruki hit a two-out solo homerun to increase the lead to 6-0, and the following inning Kajihara Kazuki launched a solo shot of his own to end the game on the run rule.
 
Box Score: Japan 7 vs. Canada 0 (6 innings)
 
Baker allowed four runs on five hits and struck out one in three innings of work, while Tyler Randerson (New Hamburg, ON) allowed three runs on three hits and two walks in two innings of relief. Pilon and Rene were the only two batters to be credited with a hit, as Okazaki struck out seven batters in the pitcher’s circle for Japan.
 
Other scores on the seventh day of competition at the ISF X Junior Men’s World Championship were:
 
- Mexico 8 vs. Denmark 1 (5 innings)
- New Zealand 6 vs. Singapore 2
- Argentina 9 vs. United States 2 (5 innings)
- Australia 4 vs. Czech Republic 2
 
The loss dropped Canada’s record to 3-5, with one game remaining against Singapore (0-8) at 5:00pm PDT on Friday. Argentina (8-0) and New Zealand (7-1) have already punched their tickets to the playoff round, while the United States, Australia and Japan are all tied for third place with 5-3 records and Mexico sits at 4-4 – with only two of those teams advancing to the playoff round. The United States and Australia will square off at 7:30pm PDT on Friday, with the winner earning a berth to the playoff round. The six teams that do not qualify for the playoff round – including Canada – will square off in the consolation round to determine the final standings for places fifth through tenth.
 
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