July2015

Team Canada Takes First Loss at WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship

July 5, 2015

Saskatoon, SK

 

Team Canada Takes First Loss at WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship

The following is a media release issued by Softball Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5th, 2015
 

Team Canada Takes First Loss at WBSC
Men’s World Softball Championship


(Saskatoon, SK) The Canadian Men’s National Team took its first loss of the WBSC Men’s World Softball Championship, dropping a 9-5 decision to New Zealand in the playoff game between the two teams with two lives remaining. New Zealand earned a direct berth to Sunday’s Gold medal game at 2:30pm CST, while Canada will face Venezuela in the Bronze medal game at 11:30pm CST to earn an opportunity for a rematch with New Zealand.
 
New Zealand started the game with a pair of singles to put runners on the corners followed by a fielder’s choice to score the first run of the game. The next batter grounded into a double play to end the inning. Canada did not waste any time getting that run back, as Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, QC) led off with a walk and Brad Ezekiel (Harbour Main, NL) put a hit and run on the ground for an infield single that got by the first baseman, allowing Roy to race around to score and Ezekiel to reach third. After a ground out and a pop out, Jason Hill (St. John’s, NL) chopped a ground ball to short and the first baseman could not handle the low throw to allow Ezekiel to score and give Canada a 2-1 lead. Another error and a hit by pitch loaded the bases but a ground ball to second got New Zealand out of the inning.
 
In the top half of the second, Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, NL) issued a leadoff walk but got a strikeout and pop out before the runner stole second with nobody covering second base, allowing him to get to third. However, Cleary snagged a ground ball to his right and tossed it to first for the third out. In the bottom of the frame, Brandon Horn (Waterloo, ON) singled off the pitcher’s glove, and after a fly out, moved up to second on a ground out in front of the plate. Jeff Ellsworth (St. Lawrence, PEI) then drove an opposite field double to the left-center field gap to bring Horn in to score. Ellsworth advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the next batter was called out on a time clock violation with two strikes.
 
The following inning, New Zealand got their leadoff batter on with a walk but Canada turned a great double play on a ground ball to shortstop. Jerome Raemaki followed with a solo homerun to right to cut the lead to 3-2, and after a pitching change to bring in Paul Koert (Stouffville, ON), the next batter sent another deep drive to right that Ellsworth tracked down and made a great leaping grab against the fence to end the inning. After Canada went down in order on the bottom of the third, New Zealand got a leadoff walk followed by a two-run homerun to center by Wayne Laulu. The next batter doubled on a soft liner that hit the left field line, but was tagged out after getting caught between second and third on a ground ball to the pitcher, with the batter reaching second on the play. Tyson Byrne then singled to center to score the runner from second with New Zealand taking a 5-3 lead.
 
Canada went down in order again in the bottom of the fourth, and New Zealand dropped a leadoff single in front of a diving centerfielder to start the fifth before another two-run shot gave them a 7-3 lead. Devon McCullough (Saskatoon, SK) came on in relief and got two big strikeouts and a pop out to retire the heart of New Zealand’s lineup. Steve Mullaley (Freshwater, NL) hit a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth but that was followed up by a ground out.
 
McCullough struck out the first two batters in the sixth, followed by an infield single and a fielder’s choice to end the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Ian Fehrman (Townsend, ON) sent a homerun deep to straightaway centerfield with one out to trim the lead to 7-4. Pinch-hitter Ryan Wolfe (Melbourne, ON) reached on a two-out error, but Roy hit a solid liner at the left fielder who made the catch running in. In the top half of the seventh, McCullough got a ground out to start the inning, but walked the next batter followed by a two-run homerun by Brad Rona as New Zealand increased its lead to 9-4. Down to their last chance, Canada got a leadoff homerun by Ezekiel but the next three batters went down on two fly outs and a ground out to end the game.
 
Box Score: New Zealand 9 vs. Canada 5
 
Cleary allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out one batter in two innings and two thirds for Canada. Koert took the loss by giving up five runs on five hits and a walk in an inning and a third of relief, while McCullough pitched the last three innings, allowing two runs on two hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts. Ezekiel led Canada at the plate with a homerun and a single while Fehrman also added a homerun. Ellsworth had a run-scoring double with Mullaley and Horn chipping in with singles.
 
Earlier in the day, Australia blanked Japan 3-0 and Venezuela shut out the Dominican Republic 3-0, setting up a matchup between Australia and Japan on Saturday night to determine who would move on to play Sunday. Ramon Jones fired a one-hitter as Venezuela took that game 4-0 to earn an opportunity to face Canada in Sunday morning’s Bronze medal game at 11:30am CST. The winner of that game will move on to face New Zealand in the Gold medal game at 2:30pm CST.
 
In the placement round, Mexico defeated Great Britain 7-5 and the United States shut down Guatemala 4-0 to set up a matchup between Mexico and the United States for the Placement Series title. The Americans scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth to take the 4-3 win.
 
The tournament 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: http://www.softball.ca
Twitter: @SoftballCanada
Facebook: 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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