CanadaMoves on to Olympic Softball Semi-Finals!

Mon Aug 18 11:50:56 EDT 2008

Received: 8/18/08 10:25:06 AM 
From:  "Gilles LeBlanc" <gleblanc at softball.ca> 

CC:    
Subject:  Canada_Moves_on_to_Olympic_Softball_Semi-Finals!_/_Le_Cana

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FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

August18th, 2008

(Beijing,China) – For the first time since softball made its
debut at the 1996 OlympicGames in Atlanta, the Canadian Women’s
softball team has advanced to thesemi-finals. Canada had previously
finished fifth in 1996 in Atlanta, eighth in2000 in Sydney and
fifth in 2004 in Athens, but can finish no worse than fourththis
year in Beijing. After Canada lost 6-0 to Japan earlier this
morning, allthe attention turned to the final preliminary round
game between Venezuela andAustralia, as a Venezuelan win would
have knocked Canada out of the tournament.However, Australia
came through with a 9-2 win to eliminate Venezuela.

Inthe game between Canada and Japan, the Canadian bats once again
made frequentcontact off Japanese starting pitcher Yukiko Ueno
and reliever Mika Someya, butonly managed four hits. On the defensive
side, Canada made three errors thatled to four Japanese runs.

TheJapanese hitters were able to make things happen each and
every inning. Theythreatened with two runners on base in the
top of the first inning, butCanadian starting pitcher Lauren
Bay Regula (Trail, BC) was able to get thefinal out. However,
she was unable to avoid more trouble in the second. MeguHerose
led off a walk, and the Canadian defence misplayed a bunt to
placerunners on first and second. After the runners advance to
second and third ongroundout and a strikeout, Rei Nishiyama hit
a single just over third base tocash in two runs.

Japanadded two more runs to their lead in the top of the third
after Bay Regula wasrelieved by Robin Mackin (Newmarket, ON)
after giving up a single. AnotherCanadian error put runners on
first and second, and Yukiyo Mine and MotokoFujimoto delivered
back-to-back run-scoring singles, increasing the lead to4-0.

Canadamanaged its first hit of the game in the bottom of the
fourth inning whenMelanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) hit a leadoff
single to right field. She was ableto reach third following two
groundouts, but was left stranded. Sheena Lawrick(Calgary, AB)
also led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, but wasretired
the very next hitter on a double play.

Japanthen added another pair of runs in the sixth, as Eri Yamada
singled, and Canadacommitted its third error of the game on a
very tough play. Megu Hirose andMotoko Fujimoto later each delivered
an RBI single.

Canadaonce again got the leadoff hitter on base in the bottom
of the inning, as ErinCumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) fought off several
pitches with two strikes beforesmashing a deep fly ball to left
field for a double off the fence that seemedto have gone just
over. Once again, Canada was unable to bring her in to score.

Inthe bottom of the seventh, Jennifer Yee greeted relief pitcher
Mika Someya witha double to the left-centerfield gap to lead
off the inning, and advanced tothird on a wild pitch, but the
three next batters were retired to end the game.

Canadaleft three runners on base, while Japan left 14.

LaurenBay Regula allowed one earned run in two and a third innings
of work, allowingthree hits and four walks while striking out
three Japanese batters. RobinMackin pitched four and a third
innings of relief, also allowing one earned runon six hits and
three walks, also striking out three batters. Danielle Lawrie(Langley,
BC) was called on to retire the final out.

Box scoresand Play-by-play

AlthoughCanada would have liked to control its own destiny, Japan
was just too dominanton this day, and the Canadians needed to
root for an Australian win over Venezuelain the final preliminary
round game. Australia did not disappoint, scoring fourruns in
the top of the first inning, added a single run in the second
andscored another four in the fourth to take a 9-0 lead. Venezuela
was able toproduce two runs on one hit in the bottom of the fifth,
but that was not enoughto extend the game as Australia took the
9-2 win in five innings due to therun-ahead rule. 

Thus,Canada finished the preliminary round with a 3-4 record
and will facethird-place Australia (5-2) in the third versus
fourth semi-final game atmidnight EDT Wednesday morning. The
first-place United States (7-0) will meetsecond-place Japan (6-1)
at 9:30pm EDT Tuesday night, with the winner advancingdirectly
to Thursday’s final, while the losing team will meet the winner
of thethree versus four game in the Bronze medal game (5:00am
EDT Wednesday).

FinalPreliminary Round Standings

Team                          Wins              Losses      
     Runs For         Runs Against

1.United States         7                     0             
       53                     1

2.Japan                      6                     1        
            23                   13

3.Australia                5                     2          
          30                   11

4.Canada                   3                    4           
         17                   23

5.Chinese Taipei       2                     5              
      10                   23

6.China                     2                     5         
           19                   21

7.Venezuela              2                     5            
        15                   35

8.Netherlands           1                     6             
        8                   48

TournamentBatting Leaders

TournamentPitching Leaders

-SC-

Formore information, contact:

GillesLeBlanc

Manager– Marketing and Communications

SoftballCanada

(613)523-3386 x. 3105

gleblanc at softball.ca

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