Softball Canada – (Midland, MI) The Canadian Junior Men’s National Softball Team improved its record to 2-2 by beating Israel 8-1 in five innings at the WBSC Junior Men’s World Softball Championship. Cole Pavey (Glencoe, ON) earned the five inning win in the pitcher’s circle for Canada, while Justin Laskowski (Warman, SK) drove in three runs. Canada took advantage of three errors and a few passed balls to round out the scoring.
 
In the top of the first, Pavey walked a batter and hit another but got a pair of fly outs to left, with Canada getting a double play on the second one as the runner on second was on his way to third without tagging up. The red and white opened the scoring in the bottom of the inning when Jake Wiffen (Tavistock, ON) led off with a walk and advanced to third on a pair of groundouts before scoring on a double to left by Laskowski. The next batter reached on an error by the second baseman, pushing Laskowski in to score to give Canada an early 2-0 lead.
 
The following inning, Pavey walked the first two batters but induced a ground ball to second for a double play followed by a fly out to right. James Shirley (Delisle, SK) and Mitch Stack (Petty Harbour, NL) each drew walks to start the bottom half of the second before Isaac Lefebvre (St-Leonard-d’Aston, QC) singled to left to score Shirley. An error on a fly ball to center loaded the bases, with Stack scoring on a passed ball and Alexandre Lemieux (St-Gervais, QC) earning a walk to load the bases again. Laskowski hit a sacrifice fly to plate a run, with another run scoring on an error as Canada increased its lead to 6-0. Israel got another leadoff walk to start the third but the runner was retired when the next batter’s bunt attempt was popped up for a double play. Team Canada got singles by Nick Basaraba (Prince Albert, SK) and Stack as well as a walk from Wiffen to load the bases with two outs, but the next batter flied out to center.
 
Israel got on the board in the top of the fourth as the leadoff batter reached on a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a ground ball before scoring on a single. Canada got that run back immediately in the bottom of the inning when Lemieux led off with a triple to left and scored on another sacrifice fly by Laskowski. In the fifth, Israel got a pair of singles to start the inning and loaded the bases on a dropped third strike, but Canada got out of it with a double play on a line drive back to Pavey who tossed the ball to third base for the third out. Team Canada proceeded to load the bases when Stack doubled, Lefebvre walked and Sheldon Beierle (Saskatoon, SK) was issued an intentional walk before Stack scored on a passed ball to end the game on the run rule.
 
Box Score: Canada 8 vs. Israel 1
 
Pavey allowed one run on four hits and five walks to go along with two strikeouts in five innings. Laskowski hit a double and drove in three runs, with Stack notching a double, a single and scoring two runs. Basaraba contributed a pair of singles while Lemieux tripled and Lefebvre chipped in with a single. Team Canada also drew seven walks in the game.
 
Team Canada (2-2) will be back in action tonight against South Africa (1-3) at 10:00pm EDT. A win would secure third place in Pool B for Canada. Live scoring and streaming are available through the event 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