Canada Takes its First Loss at 2019 Canada Cup; Juniors Eliminated from Placement Round

Softball Canada – Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team dropped its first game of the 2019 Canada Cup International Softball Championship, falling 2-0 to Scrapyard International on Saturday night.
 
Scrapyard got all of the runs it would need early in the contest, putting up two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Kiki Stokes singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second when Samantha Show reached on an error. With those runners on, Taylor Edwards smacked a single to left, scoring Stokes. Two batters later, Kasey Cooper hit a sacrifice fly to Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.), scoring Show from third.
 
From there, the Scrapyard defence and pitching took over, retiring 15 of the final 19 Canadian hitters. Canada mustered a single in the fourth off the bat of Jennifer Salling (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), another in the fifth from Franklin and in the sixth when Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) led off the inning with a line drive past the first baseman.
 
Looking for the tying runs in the seventh, Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, B.C.) walked to lead off the inning, but three consecutive groundouts ended the threat and the game.
 
Despite taking the loss, Danielle Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) had another strong performance in the circle for Team Canada. In five innings pitched she allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks. After allowing a leadoff walk in the sixth, she was replaced by Jenna Caira (Toronto, Ont.). Caira, making her fourth appearance for Team Canada in the tournament, closed out the game, retiring three of the four batters she faced while striking out two and not allowing any further damage on the scoreboard.
 
Box Score: Scrapyard International 2 vs. Canada 0
 
With the loss, Canada will play Chinese Taipei at 1:00pm PDT on Sunday afternoon. The winner of that game will play Scrapyard at 6:00pm PDT for the championship, while the losing team will finish third.
 
Junior Team Loses to Triple Crown Colorado
 
The Canadian Junior Women’s National Team saw its tournament come to an end following an 8-0 loss to Triple Crown Colorado.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Triple Crown scored two runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings and added single runs in the third and fifth to take the win in six innings. Canada only managed to produce two hits in the contest, a single by Allyse Volpe (Scarborough, Ont.) in the bottom of the first and one by Kendra Falby (Tampa, Fla.) in the third.
 
Alexis Lucyshyn (Calgary, Alta.) started the game for Canada in the pitcher’s circle, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks in three innings of work. Katie Korstrom (Abbotsford, B.C.) allowed two unearned runs on two hits in two thirds of an inning, while Rawnie Weststrate (Delta, B.C.) gave up three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout in two innings and a third of relief.
 
Box Score: Triple Crown Colorado 8 vs. Canada Juniors 0
 
The loss eliminated the Canadian Junior team from the placement round. They will now return home and prepare for the upcoming WBSC U19 Women’s Softball World Cup that is slated to take place August 11-17 in Irvine, Calif.