FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3rd, 2015
 

Canada Suffers Tough Loss against Venezuela
at US World Cup of Softball X

(Irvine, California) The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team took a difficult 3-2 loss in eight innings against Venezuela at the US World Cup of Softball X on Thursday. Team Canada made three costly errors and was unable to score with a runner on third base and no outs in the eight to drop its record to 3-2 on the tournament.

In the top of the first inning, Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, BC) led off with a single to left field and was sacrificed to second by Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) but two pop ups to shortstop kept Canada off the scoreboard. The following inning, Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) hit a one-out single but was quickly erased on an inning-ending double play on a ground ball back to the pitcher. Venezuela opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch and after two quick outs, the next batter reached on an error on a line drive to centerfield followed by a run-scoring single by Yaicey Sojo. An error kept the inning going and a single brought another run in to score to give Venezuela a 2-0 lead.

Team Canada got one of those runs back in the top of the third. Franklin got things started again with a one-out infield single to shortstop and moved up to third on a single by Lye. Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) then lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Franklin. Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) drew her second walk of the game, but the next batter lined out to end the inning.

Timpf hit a one-out single in the fourth but could not advance any further, as the two next batters flew out. Venezuela managed to get a single in each of the fourth and fifth innings, but otherwise the pitchers for both teams did a great job of keeping the opposing batters in check throughout the middle innings. Rafter worked a leadoff walk in the sixth, but a ground out and two more fly outs left her stranded.

Down to their last chance, Canada was able to produce a run in the top of the seventh to force an extra inning. Pinch-hitter Jen Yee (North Delta, BC) drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second by Emma Entzminger (Victoria, BC) and Franklin reached on another infield single to shortstop. The runners advanced on a wild pitch before Lye hit a sacrifice fly ball to center to score Yee from third to tie the game. Venezuela got a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh but a pair of strikeouts and a fly out sent the game to an extra inning.

In the top of the eighth, Rafter started on second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but a ground out to third froze her, the next batter struck out followed by a fly out as Canada was unable to bring her in to score. In the bottom of the inning, Venezuela loaded the bases on an intentional walk, a strikeout then a single, and after a strikeout for the second out, an error at shortstop allowed the winning run to cross the plate and end the game.

Box Score: Venezuela 3 vs. Canada 2

Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) started the game and pitched four solid innings, allowing two unearned runs on only three hits and striking out four, with Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, BC) allowing one unearned run on three hits and firing nine strikeouts in three innings and two thirds. Franklin was a bright spot at the top of the lineup for Canada with three singles, while Timpf added a pair. Lye had a single and a run batted, Salling produced a run on a sacrifice fly while Rafter was walked three times.

Team Canada (3-2) will play its next game of the US World Cup of Softball X against the United States (5-0) at 7:00pm PDT on Friday. Live scoring and web streaming is available through USA Softball’s website.

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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