Canada Opens IX Pan American Women’s Softball Championship with Win over Bahamas

Softball Canada – Santo Domingo, D.R. – Team Canada opened its IX Pan American Women’s Softball Championship with a 15-0 win in three innings against the Bahamas. Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) struck out nine of the ten batters she faced, while Holly Speers (Surrey, B.C) hit a grand slam to lead Canada to the opening game win.
 
Groenewegen struck out the side in the top of the first before Canada struck for three runs in the bottom of the inning. Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, B.C.) led off with a single and moved up to second on an error, followed by a pair of walks to load the bases with no outs. Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) hit a soft liner over second base to drive in a run and Erika Polidori (Brantford, Ont.) was hit by a pitch to force another run to the plate. Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, Ont.) drove in another run with a sacrifice fly as Canada took a 3-0 lead.
 
In the second, Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.) hit a slap single to shortstop and moved up to second on the play when the defence turned away from her. Jenkins laid down a bunt that was thrown into right field by the catcher to score Franklin, followed by another bunt that was fielded and thrown to first but the first baseman was unable to hang on. Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) drew a walk to load the bases before Speers hit a deep fly ball over the left field fence for a grand slam, giving Canada an 8-0 lead after two innings of play.
 
The Bahamas managed an infield single on a ground ball that was caught by a diving Joey Lye (Toronto, Ont.) at shortstop and she had no play at first, but Groenewegen struck out the next three batters. In the bottom of the frame, Lye reached on an error, Salling singled and Speers walked to load the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly by Hayward drove in a run, with another scoring on a passed ball before Rafter hit an RBI single. Carey-Leigh Vyse (Ohsweken, Ont.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases again before Franklin hit a triple to the right-center field gap to clear the bases. Jenkins singled to score Franklin to end the game on the run rule.
 
Speers led Canada at the plate with a grand slam and a pair of walks, with Franklin adding a triple, a single and driving in three runs and Rafter adding two singles and two runs batted in. Hayward hit a single and drove in two, while Jenkins contributed two singles and the other hits went to Vyse and Salling.
 
Team Canada (1-0) will return to action with two games on Saturday, taking on the British Virgin Islands (0-1) at 4:00pm EDT followed by Mexico (1-0) at 6:30pm EDT.