Women’s National Team Wraps up
Preliminary Round at Canadian Open

(Surrey, BC) The Canadian Women’s National Team split a doubleheader at the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship on Friday, defeating the Spain – Basque Country club team 7-0 before suffering a 4-2 setback against Puerto Rico and won its final game of the preliminary round 10-0 over the Rivercity Hornets earlier today.
 
In the first game, Canada opened the scoring with four runs in the top of the second after a quick first inning. Carey-Leigh Thomas (Ohsweken, ON) led off the inning with a single followed by a walk by Kyla Benz (Surrey, BC) with the runners being sacrificed to second and third by Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON). A walk by Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) loaded the bases and Victoria Rumph (Mount Forest, ON) cleared them with a three-run double. Later in the inning, Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, BC) drove in Rumph with a single as Canada took a 4-0 lead.
 
In the fourth inning, Timpf led off with a single and scored on another double by Rumph and Franklin later hit a two-run homerun to give Canada a 7-0 lead. Basque Country was unable to get much going all game long as Canada took the win in five innings.
 
Box Score: Canada 7 vs. Spain – Basque Country 0
 
Benz picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle for Canada by allowing only one hit and one walk with five strikeouts in four innings, while Sara Riske (Richmond, BC) pitched the fifth inning and struck out two batters. Rumph and Franklin did all the damage at the plate, with Rumph hitting two doubles and driving in four runs, while Franklin had a homerun and a single with three runs batted in. Thomas, Benz and Timpf each added a single.
 
Against Puerto Rico, Canada threatened first in the bottom of the second inning when Erika Polidori (Brantford, ON) led off with a single and advanced to second on an error by the right fielder after a fly out. Benz was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base, but Canada went down on two more fly outs. The following inning, Team Canada opened the scoring when Jen Yee (North Delta, BC) hit a one-out single, advanced to second on a ground out to first and scored on a single by Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) and Thomas hit back-to-back singles to start the inning but Salling was retired on a fielder’s choice. Benz singled to load the bases before Franklin also singled to give Canada an insurance run. However, the red and white would leave three runners stranded as the next batter struck out followed by a fly out to left.
 
Puerto Rico was able to put runners on base in the fifth and the sixth innings but was unable to cash them in, and finally broke through by taking advantage of a costly error in the top of the seventh. A walk and a pair of singles loaded the bases with one out, and after Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, BC) came into the game and got a big strikeout for the second out, the next batter hit a ground ball that was misplayed by the second baseman for an error, allowing all three runs to race around to score. Puerto Rico followed that up with a run-scoring single to take a late 4-2 lead, and Canada got a one-out single by Franklin in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to mount a comeback.
 
Box Score: Puerto Rico 4 vs. Canada 2
 
Karissa Hovinga (Edmonton, AB) pitched five shutout innings for Canada, allowing four hits and striking out four, while Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) was saddled with the loss, allowing three unearned runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts in an inning and a third of relief. Groenewegen allowed one unearned run on one hit with one strikeouts as she threw the last two outs. Offensively, Franklin had a pair of singles and a run batted in with Yee, Rafter, Polidori, Salling, Thomas and Riske all managed a single.
 
Against the Rivercity Hornets on Saturday, Jocelyn Cater (Delta, BC) retired all nine batters she faced in a three-inning run rule win. Looking to get back in the win column, Canada’s bats went right to work by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first. Logan White (Brantford, ON) and Joey Lye (Toronto, ON) started the game with singles and Thomas was later hit by a pitch before Benz hit a grand slam to give Canada a quick 4-0 lead. Riske singled followed by a hit by pitch by Wideman before Rumph hit a run-scoring single. White later hit a two-run single as Canada took a big lead early in the game.
 
In the second inning, Thomas reached on an error and advanced to second on a single by Benz before scoring on another single by Riske. A walk loaded the bases before a hit by pitch brought another run in to score. The following inning, Canada loaded the bases again as Megan Gurski (Dalmeny, SK) and Thomas singled and Benz walked. After a double play on a line drive to third, Wideman double to score Thomas and end the game on the run rule.
 
Box Score: Canada 10 vs. Rivercity Hornets 0
 
Cater struck out three batters in her three perfect innings to pick up the win. Benz hit a grand slam and added a single, with White contributing two hits and drove in two runs. Wideman doubled, while Lye, Gurski, Thomas and Rumph each adding a single.
 
Team Canada (7-1) finished in a three-way tie with Japan and Puerto Rico at the top of the standings and took top spot in the tie-breaker. Its first playoff game is scheduled to be played against Cuba (5-3) at 6:30pm PDT tonight.