August2014

Team Canada Takes First Loss at ISF Women’s World Softball Championship

August 20, 2014

Haarlem, Netherlands

eam Canada Takes First Loss at ISF Women’s World Softball Championship

The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20th, 2014
 

Team Canada Takes First Loss at ISF Women’s
World Softball Championship


(Haarlem, Netherlands) The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team took its first loss of the ISF XIV Women’s World Softball Championship as they were blanked 4-0 by Japan. Yukiko Ueno fired a one-hitter for Japan, with Canada’s only hit coming off the bat of Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) in the top of the fifth inning. The game began late last night and was suspended due to rain in the bottom of the fourth inning before resuming early this morning.
 
In the top of the first inning, the Canadian hitters had some lengthy at-bats but Ueno was able to retire the side with two strikeouts and a fly out. Canadian pitcher Sara Plourde (Fredericton, NB) was equal to the task early on, as she struck out two batters of her own and caught a line drive back to her. After Canada went down again in the second on two strikeouts and a pop out, Japan was able to open the scoring with a run in the bottom of the inning. Eri Yamada led off the inning with a triple, and later scored on a single by Haruna Sakamoto to give Japan the early 1-0 lead.
 
Ueno struck out the side in the top of the third, while Japan put two runners on base with two outs on an error and a single before Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) came on in relief of Plourde and got the next batter to pop out to end the inning. Canada went down on two groundouts and a strikeout in the top of the fourth before a rain shower forced a short delay, but then the lights went out and more rain came on as the game was suspended, and the teams picked up where they left off on Wednesday morning.
 
In the top of the fifth, Rafter led off with a single to centerfield and Erika Polidori (Brantford, ON) pinch ran for her. The next batter struck out, and Polidori was caught stealing at second followed by another strikeout to end the inning. Japan got a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the inning but was unable to add to its lead. After Canada went down in order in the top of the sixth, Japan was able to add to its lead by scoring three runs. Yamada led off with a single, and Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) replaced Hovinga in the pitcher’s circle. Yamada moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a fielder’s choice as she beat a toss to third on a ground ball to shortstop. A walk loaded the bases, and Caira struck out the next batter for the second out. However, another walk brought a run home, followed by a single to left by Yu Yamamoto to score two more as Japan increased its lead to 4-0. Ueno closed the game out in the top of the seventh by retiring Canada in order.
 
Box Score: Japan 4 vs. Canada 0
 
Plourde pitched two innings and two third for Canada, allowing one run on three hits and two strikeouts. Hovinga pitched two innings and a third of relief, also allowing one run on three hits, while Caira allowed two runs on one hit and two walks with two strikeouts in an inning. Ueno fired 13 strikeouts and faced the minimum amount of batters in the game.
 
In other games that were played in another day interrupted by rain delays yesterday at the ISF Women’s World Championship, New Zealand beat the Czech Republic 7-3, China shut out Cuba 2-0, Russia edged Puerto Rico 2-1 and Chinese Taipei blanked Botswana 9-0. Earlier this morning, the United States resumed last night’s game against Australia and defeated them 4-2, and the Netherlands defeated the Dominican Republic 14-1.
 
Team Canada (4-1) was scheduled to play Russia (2-3) at 10:30am EDT this morning, but another rain delay will force that game to be rescheduled for later today. Live scoring will be available on the event website at http://www.wcsoftball2014.com/en/home, with webstreaming available for purchase through http://isf.sportzcast.net/.

The event can also be followed on Facebook (World Championship Softball 2014) and Twitter (@WCSoftball2014).
 
How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SoftballCanada
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SoftballCanadaNSO

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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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