Canadian Softball Team Powers Through at Olympics

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 8/13/08 9:27:57 AM 
From:  "Gilles LeBlanc" <gleblanc at softball.ca> 

Subject:  Canadian_Softball_Team_Powers_Through_at_Olympics_/_L'éq9q
 :    

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

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2008

 

CanadianSoftball Team Powers Through at Olympics

 

(Beijing,China) – The Canadian Women’s softball team improved
its record to 2-0 at the2008 Olympic Games this morning, earning
a 9-2 win over the Netherlands in sixinnings. Danielle Lawrie
(Langley, BC) provided four solid innings in thepitcher’s circle,
while Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) and Kaleigh Rafter(Guelph,
ON) each blasted a homerun to propel the offence.

 

Dutchstarting pitcher Kristi de Vries made quick work of the
Canadians in the firsttwo innings, but the red and white put
their bats in line in the third to openthe scoring. With one
out, Erin Cumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) hit an infield singlefollowed
by a single to left field by Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York).Melanie
Matthews then hit a shallow fly ball to the left side that wasmisplayed
by the shortstop, loading the bases with only one out. After
the nextbatter popped out, Jennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) stepped
up with a boomingtriple that sailed over the head of the right
fielder, clearing the bases andgiving Canada a 3-0 lead.

 

Canadaadded four more runs in the fourth on a pair of two-run
homeruns, one byKaleigh Rafter that pushed Megan Timpf (Port
Dover, ON) in to score and theother by Matthews who also drove
in Lever from first base.

 

TheNetherlands got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth
inning, asMarloes Fellinger led off with a double and later scored
on a sacrifice fly toright field. After Canada responded with
a single run on an RBI single byAlison Bradley (Pinkerton, ON)
in the fifth, Sandra Gouverneur hit a solohomerun for the Dutch
to cut the lead to 8-2. However, Melanie Matthews drove inRafter
from third with a double in the sixth to increase the lead to
sevenruns, putting the run-ahead rule in effect. The Netherlands
were not able toscore in their half of the sixth, putting an
end to the game.

 

Lawriehad a very strong outing for Canada, striking out four
batters in four inningsof work. She gave up one run on two hits
with no walks. Dione Meier (Saskatoon,SK) pitched two innings
of relief, allowing one run on one hit with threestrikeouts.
At the plate, Canada managed to produce 11 hits in the win. MelanieMatthews,
Kaleigh Rafter, Jennifer Yee and Caitlin Lever all collected
twohits, while Megan Timpf, Alison Bradley and Erin Cumpstone
each added a single.

 

BoxScore

 

Play-by-play

 

 

Inother softball action at the Olympics: USA blanked Venezuela
11-0; Chinablasted the Netherlands 10-2; Japan shaded Australia
6-5; China beat Venezuela7-1; USA shut out Australia 3-0; and
Japan got by Chinese Taipei 2-1.

 

Canada(2-0) will return to action at midnight tonight (Eastern
Time), when they willtake on the powerful Americans (2-0) in
a game that can be seen on CBC. Thegame can also be seen without
interruption on the CBC website at www.cbc.ca/olympics/livevideowhile
live scoring is available at this link.

 

-SC-

 

Formore information, contact:

 

GillesLeBlanc

Manager– Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada (613) 523-3386 x. 3105

gleblanc(at)softball.ca

 

 Al's Fastball News
*Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com
   fastball at pmihrm.com
NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/
NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball

VIA http://www.webbox.com