FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3rd, 2015
Â
Canada Finishes Preliminary Round
with Win over Philippines
(Saskatoon, SK) The Canadian Men’s National Softball Team finished the preliminary round of the WBSC Men’s World Championship with a 12-0 win in four innings over the Philippines and keep their record perfect at 7-0. Canada took an 8-0 lead after one inning of play powered by three homeruns, while Paul Koert (Stouffville, ON) and Andy Skelton (Scarborough, ON) split the pitching duties for a perfect game.
After the Philippines went down in order in the top of the first, Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) stroke a single followed by a walk to Ryan Wolfe (Melbourne, ON) before Jeff Ellsworth (St. Lawrence, PEI) smacked a three-run homerun over the right field fence. Steve Mullaley (Freshwater, NL) reached on an error and Skelton followed with a two-run homerun, with Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON) hitting a double before scoring on another two-run shot by Bryan Abrey (Richmond, BC). Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) doubled followed by another double by Roy as Canada took an early 8-0 lead.
In the top of the second, the Philippines were retired on two ground outs and a strike out, while Canada went down on a ground out and two fly outs. The following inning, Fehrman led off with a double and advanced to third on a single by Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, BC), while Jason Sanford (Durham, NS) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Horn and Roy each hit run-scoring singles and Wolfe hit a sacrifice fly, with Roy later scoring on a single by Skelton as Canada added to its lead, making the score 12-0. Skelton struck out the side in the top of the fourth to end the game on the run rule.
Box Score: Canada 12 vs. Philippines 0
Koert pitched the first two innings for Canada, striking out two batters without allowing a hit, while Skelton struck out five over the last two innings as the duo faced the minimum amount of batters for a perfect game. Ellsworth, Skelton and Abrey all homered in the first inning, while Roy went 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Fehrman and Horn each had a pair of hits, with Mayson adding a single.
In other scores on the final day of the preliminary round at the WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship, Argentina shut out Great Britain 2-0, the Dominican Republic clinched first place in Pool B with a 4-0 win over Venezuela, New Zealand beat the Czech Republic 11-1 in five innings, Japan defeated the Netherlands 9-1 in five innings, the United States outscored Denmark 9-2 in six innings, and Mexico beat Australia 10-3.
Team Canada (7-0, 1st in Pool A) earned two lives and will play its first playoff game against Australia (5-2, 2nd in Pool B) at 6:30pm CST on Friday.
Other Championship Round matchups (all played at Bob Van Impe Stadium) will be:
1:00pm CST: Czech Republic (5-2, 3rd in Pool A) vs. Japan (4-3, 4th in Pool B)
3:30pm CST: Venezuela (5-2, 3rd in Pool B) vs. Argentina (5-2, 4th in Pool A)
8:30pm CST: Dominican Republic (6-1, 1st in Pool B) vs. New Zealand (5-2, 2nd in Pool A)Â
Teams who did not qualify for the Championship Round will compete in the Placement Round:
10:30am CST: Great Britain (3-4, 5th in Pool A) vs. Netherlands (0-7, 8th in Pool B) – BVI
1:30pm CST: Guatemala (2-5, 6th in Pool A) vs. Denmark (1-6, 7th in Pool B) – GHP
4:00pm CST: Mexico (3-4, 6th in Pool B) vs. Philippines (1-6, 7th in Pool A) – GHPÂ
BVI – Bob Van Impe Stadium
GHP – Gordie Howe ParkÂ
The United States (4-3, 5th in Pool B) earned a bye in the first round of the Placement Round.
The event website can be found at http://www.2015isfmensworldsoftball.ca/, with Sportscanada.tv webstreaming available at http://sportscanada.tv/worldsoftball/ and Pointstreak live scoring at http://wbscmens.bbstats.pointstreak.com/. The event can also be followed on Facebook (2015 ISF Men’s Worlds) and Twitter (@ISFMens2015). Also make sure to check out Champ’s Chatter – the official newsletter of the 2015 WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship – with a new issue published daily at http://www.2015isfmensworldsoftball.ca//english/media/champs-chatter.html!
How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website:Â http://www.softball.ca
Twitter:Â @SoftballCanada
Facebook:Â SoftballCanadaNSO
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For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
Cell: (613) 797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca