New Zealand topped Canada, 8-5 on the strength of a 6 run outburst in the 5th inning and advances to play Australia for the gold.

Bronze to Canada.

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(Saskatoon,SK) – The Canadian Senior Men’s Softball Team fell behind 4-0 after five inning, but came back in dramatic fashion by scoring four runs to tie the gamein the top of the sixth and added two runs in the seventh, holding on for a thrilling 6-4 victory over the United States. It was the third time Canada came from behind to win a game at the ISF Men’s World Championships, as they had done the same to both Australia and Venezuela in the preliminary round.

The starting pitchers took control in the early part of the game, as both USA pitcher Paul Koert and Canadian starter Sean Whitten (Maddox Cove, NL) held theopposing hitter hitless through three innings. Canada stroked the first hit ofthe game in the top of the fourth, when Dale Levy (St. Mary’s, ON) drove atwo-out single through second base. After moving up to second, Levy was leftstranded. The United States then responded in the bottom of the inning bygetting their first hit off Whitten, who was immediately replaced in the pitcher’s circle by Trevor Ethier (Saskatoon, SK). Ethier walked the first batter he faced, and later allowed a single through the right side, as Team USAtook a 1-0 lead. After Canada was quickly retired in order, the Americans put alot more pressure, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a commanding4-0 lead.

Withthings looking bad for the red and white, Canada responded with a huge inningin the top of the sixth. Kevin Schellenberg (Squamish, BC) started things offby hitting a ground ball with a lot of English on it that eluded a diving thirdbaseman for a single. After a passed ball moved Schellenberg to second, IanFehrman (Townsend, ON) lit up the crowd by drilling a pitch way over the fencein centerfield for a homerun, trimming USA’s lead to 4-2. With the momentumshifting towards Canada’s side, Colin Abbott (St. John’s, NL) drew a walk andStephen Mullaley (Freshwater, NL) hit a single that dropped in front of theleft fielder. Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, BC) then hit a solid line drivedirectly to the left fielder, who seemed to lose the ball in the lights anddropped the ball to setup Canada with the bases loaded and only one out. Aftera strikeout, Craig Crawford (Markham, ON) came up huge with a two-out singlepast a diving second baseman to cash in two runs, sending the crowd into afrenzy as Canada tied the game up at 4-4.

AfterUSA threatened by getting two runners on base, Todd Martin (Bracebridge, ON)was able to escape the inning without allowing a run. Canada picked up rightwhere they left off the previous inning, as Schellenberg got things startedagain by drilling a solid single off the shortstop. Ian Fehrman then drilled agrounder down the first base line that looked like it may be heading foul, butthe first baseman dove and the ball hit him in fair territory, with the ballrolling past the Canadian dugout. Schellenberg raced around the bases to comein to score, and Fehrman ended up on second with a double. Colin Abbottsacrificed Fehrman to third, which was followed by an RBI single past theshortstop by Stephen Mullaley, giving Canada a 6-4 lead.

TheUnited States threatened in the bottom of the seventh, getting runners onsecond and third with one out, one hit away from tying the game. But Todd Martinforced a groundout right back to him for the second out, and struck out thelast batter on a wicked changeup to end the game.

ToddMartin picked up the win for Canada, allowing four hits and striking out fourhitters in two innings of work. Sean Whitten started the game for Canada,allowing one earned run on only one hit with seven strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.Trevor Ethier pitched one inning of relief, allowing two earned runs on twohits, while Dean Holoien (Melfort, SK) pitched 2/3 innings in which he allowedan earned run on two hits.

Afterholding Canada to only one hit through five innings, former Canadian NationalTeam player Paul Koert gave up seven hits in the final two innings for TeamUSA. Ian Fehrman was his biggest problem, as he went two-for-four with ahomerun, a double, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Kevin Schellenbergwas two-for-two with two runs scored, while Stephen Mullaley also collected twohits with an RBI and a run. Dale Levy and Craig Crawford rounded out the hitswith one each.

Earlierin the day, Japan came back with five runs in the top of the sixth to edgeArgentina 7-6, eliminating Argentina from the playoff round. Venezuela thenhammered Great Britain 10-3 to eliminate them, and Australia stunned NewZealand with a 7-0 run rule victory in six innings.

Asa result, Japan will take on New Zealand at 1:00pm CST on Saturday, whileVenezuela will meet the United States at 3:30pm. The losing teams from thosegames will be eliminated, while the winning teams will face each other at8:30pm that same night. Canada will take on Australia in the 1st vs.2nd playoff game at 6:30pm, with a direct berth to Sunday’s GoldMedal Championship game on the line. The losing team from that game will needto play the winner of the 8:30pm game in the Bronze medal game Sunday morningin order to try to get into the Championship game.

RogersSportsnet will be airing the Bronze Medal game at 2:00pm EDT on Wednesday, July29th, while the Gold Medal Championship game will air at 2:00pm EDTon Friday, July 31st.

Forgame results and tournament standings, please visit the tournament website at http://www.2009worldmensfastpitch.com/.

Toview the Team Canada media guide, please click the following link: http://www.softball.ca/files/SMNTMediaGuide.pdf

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Formore information, please contact:

GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RogersSportsnet to Broadcast two ISF Men’s World Softball Championship Games!

(Ottawa,ON) – Softball Canada and the International Softball Federation (ISF) are extremely pleased to announce that Rogers Sportsnet will air the two final games of theISF XII Men’s World Championships next week.

On Wednesday, July 29thSportsnet will air the Bronze medal game at 2:00pm EDT, while the Gold medalChampionship game will air at 2:00pm EDT on Friday, July 31st.

Withthe ISF’s BackSoftball Campaign aiming to have the sport of women’s softballreinstated to the 2016 Olympic programme, this initiative should reinforce theincreasing appeal of softball to a global audience. The BackSoftball campaignalso includes a request for the addition of men’s softball to the Olympicprogramme.

Canada won a Silver medal at the previous ISF World Championship, which was held inChristchurch, New Zealand in 2004, as the host country defeated Canada in theGold medal Championship game. After the preliminary round of this year’s eventin Saskatoon, Canada finished first place in Pool B with a 7-0 record to advance to the elimination round.

“We are delighted to give softball fans from across Canada the opportunity to see the final two games of what has been an outstanding event” stated SoftballCanada CEO Hugh Mitchener. “We appreciate the cooperation of the Hostorganizing committee and Rogers Sportsnet in making this happen.”

Softball was first featured in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last year’s competition in Beijing was very successful with a total attendance close to180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positivedoping tests at any of the four Summer Olympics that the sport has been a part of.

final decision on which sports will be added to the current roster of 26 at the2016 Summer Olympic Games will be made at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagenin October this year.

Formore information, please contact:

GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)797-7171
gleblanc@softball.ca