October2014

Canada Suffers First Loss against Argentina at IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship

October 31, 2014

Parana, ARG

Canada Suffers First Loss against Argentina at IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship

The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30th, 2014
 

Canada Suffers First Loss against Argentina at
IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship 


(Parana, Argentina) The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team suffered its first loss of the IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship by dropping a 3-2 decision to the host team from Argentina. With Argentina’s loss to the United States last night, Team Canada had already secured first place and will take on Venezuela in the first versus second playoff game. Argentina finished third and will play the United States in the other playoff game with the winner of that game advancing to play the losing team of the Canada/Venezuela game on Saturday.
 
In the first meeting between the two teams since Argentina eliminated Canada from the ISF Men’s World Championship in New Zealand in 2013, the Argentineans got back-to-back walks with one out in the top of the first inning but Canadian starting pitcher Devon McCullough (Saskatoon, SK) settled in and struck out the next two batters. Jeff Ellsworth (St. Lawrence, PEI) hit a two-out double to centerfield in the bottom of the inning, but Juan Pottoliccio notched a strikeout of his own to leave Ellsworth stranded. After both teams went down in order in the second, Argentina was able to open the scoring in the third on a solo homerun by Nicolas Carril to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) managed a two-out single in the bottom of third but the next batter struck out.
 
Canada was able to get things going and tied the game up in the bottom half of the fourth. Ellsworth drew a leadoff walk but was erased on a fielder’s choice, and Jason Hill (St. John’s, NL) followed with a single to centerfield to put runners on the corners. Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, BC) then hit a ground ball to the pitcher’s circle that was thrown to second for the second out but the first baseman was unable to scoop the throw to first, allowing Andy Skelton (Scarborough, ON) to score from third and tie the game.
 
Argentina got that run back immediately in the top of the fifth, as leadoff batter Juan Zara tripled and later went on to score on a single by Bruno Motroni as Argentina regained a 2-1 lead. The Argentineans added another run in the sixth after another leadoff triple with Mariano Montero just beating the relay to third and yet another triple by Gonzalo Ojeda later scored the run from third to increase the lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the frame, Ellsworth led off with a single up the middle that was bobbled by the centerfielder as Ellsworth raced all the way to third. A walk put runners on the corners before Hill lifted a sacrifice fly ball to centerfield to score Ellsworth and cut the lead to 3-2. However, the next two batters struck out as the game headed into the seventh.
 
Team Canada made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh, as Horn hit a two-out single followed by a walk by Mathieu Roy (St. Gervais, QC) to put two runners on base, but the next batter struck out to end the game.
 
Box Score: Argentina 3 vs. Canada 2
 
McCullough took the loss in the pitcher’s circle for Canada, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts in five innings of work. Gregg Garrity (Courtice, ON) pitched the last two innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. Ellsworth led the way at the plate with a double, a single and a run scored, while Horn collected a pair of singles. Hill also chipped in with a hit and a run batted in.
 
In a late score on Wednesday night, the United States scored a run in the first inning and held on to beat Argentina 1-0. In other action on the last day of the preliminary round on Thursday, Mexico (3-4) defeated Cuba (1-6) by a score of 2-0, Venezuela (5-2) clinched second place with a 1-0 win over the Dominican Republic (3-4) and the United States (4-3) earned the fourth and final playoff spot with a 1-0 win over Guatemala (1-6).
 
The playoff matchups have now been set as first place Canada (6-1) will take on second place Venezuela (5-2) at 5:30pm EDT on Friday, followed by third place Argentina (5-2) taking on fourth place United States (4-3) at 8:00pm EDT. The winner of the game between Canada and Venezuela will earn a direct berth to the gold medal game, with the losing team taking on the winner of the game between Argentina and the United States for a chance to earn the other spot in the championship game on Saturday.
 
The event website can be found at http://9panamericanosoftbol2014.com/eng/, with webstreaming available at http://9panamericanosoftbol2014.com/eng/index.php/on-line. The event can also be followed on Facebook (IX Panamericano de Softbol Masculino Conpasa Parana Argentina 2014) and Softball Argentina’s Twitter account (@SoftbolARG).

How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SoftballCanada
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SoftballCanadaNSO

-SC-

For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
OUR SPONSORS

TRENDING NOW
@alsfastball
FRIENDS OF AL'S FASTBALL
AU Sable AFP Fastpitch Fastpitch West International Softball Congress Men’s Fastpitch SA North American Fastpitch Association Ontario Amateur Softball Association

Ontario Masters Fastball sports betting site betway Shooters Fastpitch League Softball Canada Softball New Zealand WBSC