Softball Canada – (Surrey, BC) The Canadian Women’s National Team powered past Ireland 14-0 at the WBSC Women’s World Softball Championship. Nine Canadians registered hits including six that went for extra bases while Sara Plourde (Baker Lake, NB) held the Irish to one hit in the four inning win.
 
Canada got on the board quickly as Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON) led off with a single followed by a walk by Joey Lye (Toronto, ON), who were sacrificed over to second and third. Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) delivered a two-run single, and after Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) reached on an error, Erika Polidori (Brantford, ON) doubled to bring two more runs in to score and crossed the plate on a single by Carey-Leigh Thomas (Ohsweken, ON).
 
In the top of the second, Hayward led off with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on a single by Megan Gurski (Dalmeny, SK). Lye – who had reached on a walk – scored on a single by Rafter, and Polidori drove another ball to the right-center field gap to bring two more runs to the plate. Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, ON) then doubled Polidori home and scored on a single by Thomas. Hayward drove an RBI double and scored on an error on a ground ball to second as Canada built a 13-0 lead.
 
Salling led off the top of the third with her second homerun of the tournament, and Ireland registered a two-out hit in the bottom of the inning but was kept off the scoreboard. Canada got three singles by Logan White (Brantford, ON), Lye and Gurski in the fourth but did not add any runs. Plourde sat Ireland down in order on the bottom of the fourth to end the game on the run rule.
 
Box Score: Canada 14 vs. Ireland 0
 
Plourde allowed only one hit and struck out eight in the four-inning win, with Salling providing a homerun and a single, Polidori collecting a triple, a double and drove in four runs and Hayward adding a pair of doubles and a single. Gurski and Thomas each contributed a pair of singles.
 
Elsewhere on the second day of competition at the WBSC Women’s World Softball Championship, China beat Greece 5-1, the Netherlands blanked the Czech Republic 2-0, New Zealand shut out Peru 7-0, Mexico defeated Serbia 15-0, Ecuador powered past India 14-0, the United States won 15-0 over Austria and Italy defeated Kenya by the same score, Japan survived by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 win over Venezuela, Australia shut out Switzerland 12-0, Great Britain jumped all over Uganda 13-1, Cuba blanked Guatemala 1-0, Puerto Rico beat Chinese Taipei 2-0 and Brazil defeated Israel 19-0.
 
Canada (2-0) will wrap up its preliminary round schedule against Uganda (1-1) at 7:30pm PDT on Sunday.

 

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For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager – Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
Cell: (613) 797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca