(Parana, Argentina) The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team opened its IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship schedule with a narrow 1-0 win over Guatemala in eight innings. Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, NL) fired a two-hitter and struck out 16 to shut out the Guatemalans, while Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) hit a walk-off single to centerfield in the bottom of the eighth to give Canada the victory.
Â
Guatemala got a leadoff walk in the top of the first, but Cleary settled in and struck out the next three batters to get out of the inning, and also retired the side in each of the second, third and fourth innings before Guatemala managed a one-out single in the top of the fifth. Cleary got a pop out and a strikeout to leave the runner stranded on first, and shut them down in each of the sixth and seventh innings as well.
Â
Meanwhile, Guatemalan pitcher Jorge Segura was equal to the task as he retired Canada in order in each of the first two innings, with Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, BC) being hit by a pitch with two outs in the second but then getting called out for leading off first. Mark Johnson (Glencoe, ON) worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the third and stole second, but the next batter struck out to keep the game scoreless. Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) led off the bottom of the fourth with a single for the game’s first hit and later moved up to third, but was left stranded. Canada got another leadoff hit with a single by Mayson in the fifth, but the next three batters went down to keep Canada off the scoreboard.
Â
Team Canada seemed poised to finish the game in the bottom of the seventh, as Jason Hill (St. John’s, NL) led off with a triple followed by a pair of intentional walks to load the bases, but Guatemala was able to tightrope out of danger as the next two batters struck out followed by a pop out to send the game to extra innings. With a runner starting on second base for Guatemala on the international tie-breaker rule, the first batter laid down a sacrifice bunt and beat the throw to first for a single to put runners on the corners but Cleary retired the next three batters. In the bottom of the inning, Johnson started on second base and immediately scored on a single up the middle by Horn to end the game.
Â
Box Score: Canada 1 vs. Guatemala 0 (8 innings) Â
In other scores on the first day of competition at the IX Men’s Pan American Championship, Mexico defeated the United States 2-1 in eleven innings, Argentina blanked the Dominican Republic 2-0 and Venezuela edged Cuba 1-0.
Â
Canada (1-0) is scheduled to play its next game against Mexico (1-0) at 3:00pm EDT on Saturday.
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105