Canada bounces back in win against Puerto Rico

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 6/25/07 1:23:15 PM 
From:  "Gilles Leblanc" <gleblanc(at)softball.ca> 

 
Subject:  Canada bounces back in win against Puerto Rico  


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 25th, 2007

 

Canada bounces back in win against Puerto Rico

 

(Enschede, Netherlands) - The Canadian Junior Women's Softball
team came up with an outstanding performance after a very uninspiring
effort the night before to defeat Puerto Rico 7-0 in an important
game. Canada is fighting for second place with Puerto Rico (3-2)
and Australia (4-1) in their pool and needed to defeat both teams
to clinch second place and a very important “double life” for
the elimination round. The top two teams from each pool receive
“double life”, which means that they need to be beaten twice
in the elimination round to be eliminated from the tournament.


 

In the game against Puerto Rico, Megan Evans (Brooklin, ON) came
up with a great game as she fired a no hitter and allowed only
one base runner who reached on an error in the fifth inning.
She faced only sixteen batters in the five inning run-ahead rule
shortened game (ahead by seven runs after five innings). Evans
had her rise ball working all game and recorded eight strikeouts
in picking up her first win of the tournament.

 

“The team hit really well and was solid defensively” stated Evans.
“I was happy to shut them down and not allow any solid hits.
It has been fun to play at the international level and see what
teams from other countries have. I'm excited to be given the
opportunity to represent my country.”

 

Canada banged out eight hits and opened the scoring in the first
inning as lead off hitter Richelle McGarva (Cloverdale, BC) drilled
the first pitch of the game to the centre field fence for a double.
Katrina Lavadan (Scarborough, ON) sacrificed McGarva over to
third with a bunt before McGarva scored the first run of the
game on a wild pitch.

 

In the fourth inning, Canada exploded for four runs on five hits
including two doubles and a triple to break the game open. Charlotte
Dolan (Coquitlam, BC) singled to centre and Corrine Doornberg
(Langley, BC) pinch ran for her. Robyn Draper (Brampton, ON)
followed with a triple off the fence to score Doornberg from
first base. With one out, Heidi Purtzer (Scottsdale, Arizona)
drilled a two strike pitch up the middle to bring Draper home.
Stephanie LeClair (Kitchener, ON) then lined a double into the
left field gap to score Purtzer. Jessica Tieszen (South Surrey,
BC) immediately followed with another line drive in the left
field gap to score LeClair for Canada's fourth run of the inning
and a 5-0 lead.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, Jesslyn Hodge (Vancouver, BC) and
Dolan both drew walks. Pearl Coleshill (Toronto, ON) came into
the game to pinch run for Dolan. Puerto Rico made a pitching
change and Robyn Draper hit the second pitch right back at the
pitcher and hit her in the shin, loading the bases for Canada.
After two fielder’s choices with outs being recorded at the plate,
Stephanie LeClair hit a grounder to third and the fielder first
looked to go home but elected to throw to first base, but LeClair
was called safe and Draper scored to make it 6-0. Jessica Tieszen
then hit a hard ground ball to short which the fielder was not
able to handle and this allowed Carly Moir (White Rock, BC) to
score to close out the 7-0 win for Canada.

“After being beat by them in Puerto Rico last year, our team
came out strong today with good defense and solid at bats” said
Tieszen after the game. “The harder competition and higher level
of play here at the Worlds has motivated us to play our A game,
and quickly gel together as a team.”

 

Canada plays Australia tomorrow at 9:00am (ET). The game can
be seen through webcam feeds through Softball Canada’s website
(www.softball.ca).

 

-SC-

For more information, please contact:

 

Gilles LeBlanc

Sport/Recreation Management Intern

MBA in Sport and Recreation Management

University of New Brunswick

 

Softball Canada

Coordinator, Marketing and Communications

gleblanc(at)softball.ca

(613) 523-3386 ext 3105
 

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