2019 U17 Men’s Pan American Championship – Game 5

Softball Canada – Guatemala City, Guatemala – The Canadian U17 Junior Men’s National Team beat Argentina 7-2 and advanced to Saturday’s Gold medal game, taking advantage of six defensive errors by the Argentinean squad. Canada has also qualified for the 2020 WBSC U18 Men’s World Cup in New Zealand with a guaranteed Top 4 finish.
 
The game was scoreless through two innings despite both teams putting runners on base. Canada was able to produce the first run of the game in the top of the third when Owen Rahn (Durham, Ont.) hit a one-out single to center, moved up to second on a throwing error on a ground ball to the pitcher, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when the catcher’s throw to third was off the mark. Argentina answered immediately in the bottom of the inning by getting a leadoff triple over the left fielder and the runner later scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Connor Brooks (Napanee, Ont.) led off the fourth with a single to center, advanced to third when the next batter reached on a fielding error by the second baseman and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Matthew Weiler (Hepworth, Ont.). A fielder’s choice and a single to left by Max Major (Delisle, Sask.) put two runners on base before Joey Rousseau (St-Charles-de-Bellechasse, Que.) smashed a two-run double to the left field corner, giving Canada a 4-1 lead.  Argentina got one run back in the bottom of the frame, drawing a leadoff walk with that runner later scoring on an RBI triple.
 
In the top of the fifth, Canada got a leadoff walk by Ryan Bicknell (Prince Albert, Sask.) and took advantage of another error by the second baseman to allow McKay to reach base. A high chopper to the pitcher advanced the runners to second and third before Jackson Pegelo (Cargill, Ont.) singled to left to score Bicknell, but McKay was thrown out at home. The following inning, Rousseau drew a two-out walk before Nathan Running (Innerkip Ont.) lined a single on a line drive to center that rolled past the centerfielder, allowing Rousseau to race around the bases to score and Running ended up on third. Bicknell then lined a triple to the left field corner to score Running as Canada increased its lead to 7-2. Argentina got a pair of singles in the bottom half of the sixth but wasn’t able to cash those runners in and they were retired in order in the seventh to end the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 7 vs. Argentina 2
 
Andrew Van Boekel (Bright, Ont.) started the game in the pitcher’s circle for Canada and pitched two innings, allowing a run on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts before being replaced by Running after allowing a leadoff triple in the third. Running pitched four innings of relief to earn the win, allowing a run on three hits and one walk while striking out five batters. Reese Yantzi (Shakespeare, Ont.) closed out the seventh with a pair of strikeouts. Rousseau’s two-run double was the key hit for Canada with Bicknell adding an RBI triple. Pegelo singled in a run and Weiler drove one in with a sacrifice fly, while McKay, Brooks, Major, Rahn and Running all added singles to Canada’s 10-hit attack.
 
Canada improved its record to 4-1 while Argentina dropped to 3-2. Later in the evening, Mexico defeated host Guatemala 15-2 to finish the preliminary round with a 5-1 record, while Guatemala dropped to 3-2. Argentina will play Guatemala on Friday, and since Canada holds the head-to-head tie-breaker over both those teams, they will advance to Saturday’s Gold medal game against Mexico. The red and white will first wrap up its preliminary round with a game against Belize (0-5) at 5:00pm CST (6:00pm EST) on Friday. Live streaming is available on the Pan American Softball Facebook page, with Softball Canada providing live GameChanger scoring for all of its games. The event can also be followed through the WBSC Americas social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the #U17SoftballPanam hashtag, as well as the Softbol Guatemala Facebook page.