Team Canada Splits Two Games at Canada Cup; Elite Team Wins Twice

Softball Canada – Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team split a pair of games on Tuesday, defeating Korea 7-0 in five innings before dropping a 4-3 game to Triple Crown Colorado. The Canada Elite Team won their first two games by defeating the Czech Republic 10-0 in six innings before edging the Calahoo Erins 2-1 in eight innings.
 
In the first game for Team Canada, Korea loaded the bases in the top of the first on an error, a fielder’s choice and a single but a pair of strikeouts left all three runners stranded. Kristen Brown (Levittown, N.Y.) opened the scoring with a solo homerun in the bottom of the second for Canada, and the red and white added two more runs the following inning when Natalie Wideman(Mississauga, Ont.) led off with a single and scored on a triple by Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) who went on to score on a ground out for the 3-0 lead.
 
Canada added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth when Jenny Gilbert(Saskatoon, Sask.) led off with a single and Brown reached on a fielder’s choice before Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.) hit a three-run shot to double Canada’s lead to 6-0. In the fifth, Hayward hit her second triple of the game and scored on a single by Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) to end the game on the run-ahead rule.
 
Box Score: Canada 7 vs. Korea 0
 
Jenna Caira (Toronto, Ont.) picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle for Canada, allowing three hits and a walk to go along with four strikeouts in five innings of work. Hayward had a pair of triples, a run batted in and two runs scored for Canada, with Franklin hitting a three-run homerun and Brown adding a solo blast. Gilbert, Wideman and Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, B.C.) produced Canada’s other hits.
 
Against Triple Crown Colorado, Canada got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the first on a pair of run-scoring singles by Salling and Gilbert. However, Triple Crown came back to tie the game with a two-run homerun in the top of the second and got a two-run single in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Team Canada had a great opportunity to score in the bottom of the fourth by loading the bases with one out on a single by Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, Ont.), an error and a walk but the next batter grounded into a fielder’s choice with the lead runner being thrown out at home followed by a ground out to third to end the threat. In the bottom of the sixth, Salling hit a run-scoring double to the right field fence to cut the lead to 4-3, but that was as close as Canada would get.
 
Box Score: Triple Crown Colorado 4 vs. Canada 3
 
Danielle Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) was saddled with the loss for Team Canada, allowing four runs on fours hits as she struck out four batters in three innings. Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) gave up three hits and struck out two in four innings of relief. Salling doubled for Team Canada and Rafter contributed two singles. Other hits went to Hayward, Speers and Gilbert.
 
The Canada Elite team opened its tournament with a 10-0 win over the Czech Republic and a 2-1 win against the Calahoo Erins.
 
In the game against the Czech Republic, the Elite team opened the scoring in the top of the first when Joey Lye (Toronto, Ont.) led off by reaching on an error and was sacrificed to third before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Erika Polidori(Brantford, Ont.). The following inning, Canada Elite added to its lead with a run-scoring single by Brooke Vander Heide (Sandy, Utah) and a two-run error and added another on a solo homerun by Polidori to start the third for a 5-0 lead. They put the game away in the sixth by adding five runs on a two-run triple by Grace Messmer (Surrey, B.C.), a pair of run-scoring doubles by Alysen Febrey (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Victoria Rumph (Drayton, Ont.) and an RBI single by Polidori. Kenzie Friesen (Saskatoon, Sask.) registered the win in the pitcher’s circle by allowing only three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in six innings. 
 
Box Score: Canada Elite 10 vs. Czech Republic 0
 
Canada Elite opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first against the Calahoo Erins when Messmer doubled and scored on a single by Febrey. The pitching took over from there as both teams were held off the scoreboard until Calahoo tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the seventh by getting a leadoff walk, followed by an error on a sacrifice bunt to move the lead runner to third and the run scored on a fielder’s choice on a sacrifice bunt on the very next play. Calahoo got a single to load the bases, but a fielder’s choice retired the lead runner at the plate followed by a double play to hold the tie, with the game going to extra innings after Canada Elite got a pair of two-run singles in the bottom of the seventh but didn’t score. Calahoo couldn’t score in the top half of the eighth, while Canada Elite got a walk-off single by Febrey to end the game in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Box Score: Canada Elite 2 vs. Calahoo Erins 0
 
Savanna Copeland (Fishers, Ind.) fired a complete-game one-hitter for Canada Elite, walking two batters and striking out 17 in eight innings. Febrey had three singles and knocked in both runs, with Lye contributing a triple and a single and Messmer had a double and a single with two runs scored.
 
In the second round-robin, Team Canada will play the White Rock Renegades at 2:00pm PDT followed by China at 7:00pm PDT, while the Canada Elite team will take on New Zealand at 3:00pm PDT and Korea at 9:00pm PDT.