Canada defeats China in another late-inning thriller!

[Al's Fastball News]

Canada defeats China in another late-inning thriller! 

(Caracas, Venezuela) After an emotional come-from-behind win
in the bottom of the seventh earlier in the day against Australia,
the Canadian Women's National Softball team made it a perfect
Canada Day by scoring a run in the bottom of the second to defeat
China 1-0 on Thursday night for yet another emotional win. Canada
has now punched its ticket to the Bronze medal game where they
will play Japan at 4:30pm EDT on Friday, with the winner of that
game going on to face the United States later that night at 7:30pm
EDT in the Gold medal game. 

After both teams were retired in order in the first, Canada came
within inches of taking the early lead in the second. Sheena
Lawrick (Calgary, AB) led off the bottom of the inning by reaching
on an error, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jen Salling
(Port Coquitlam, BC). Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) then launched
a deep fly ball that would have cleared the centerfield fence,
but the outfielder reached over and robbed her of a two-run homerun.
Erin Cumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) then hit a single off the pitcher's
glove to push Lawrick to third, but the next hitter struck out
as China escaped the inning. 

Canada kept the pressure on in the third, as Melanie Matthews
(Surrey, BC) drove a pitch off the second baseman's glove to
reach on the error, and Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York) followed
with an infield single to second as well to place runners on
first and second with one out. After a fly out by Jenn Yee (North
Delta, BC), Lawrick - Canada's hottest hitter - went down on
strikes. 

China threatened with two outs in the top of the fifth as a pinch
hitter slapped a perfect bunt to second base to break up Danielle
Lawrie's (Langley, BC) perfect game. She then moved up to second
on a passed ball, but Lawrie froze the hitter with an inside
pitch for a strikeout. In the bottom of the inning, Melanie Matthews
forced a one-out walk, followed by a perfect bunt single by Caitlin
Lever. However, China retired the next two hitters on a strikeout
and a pop up as the game was scoreless through five innings.


Canada missed a golden opportunity to score in the bottom of
the sixth. With one out, Kaleigh Rafter drove a double into the
right-center field gap to get into scoring position. Evelyne
Pare (Ile-Perrot, QC) pinch ran for Rafter, and Erin Cumpstone
tapped a slow roller and was called safe at first, pushing Pare
to third in the process. Danielle Lawrie came in to pinch-hit,
and grounded out to third, but pushed Cumpstone to second. Canada
then attempted a squeeze, but the batter missed the ball and
the runner on third was tagged out retreating to third to end
the inning. 

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Caitlin Lever hit
a sinking liner that got by a diving left fielder for a double,
and Jenn Yee was intentionally walked, placing runners on first
and second. After fouling off several pitches, Sheena Lawrick
came through with a single past the third baseman into left field,
allowing Lever to score from second for Canada's second walk-off
win of the day in the bottom of the seventh. 

Danielle Lawrie was sensational in the pitcher's circle, allowing
only two slap hits over seven innings with three strikeouts.
She received a lot of support from her defense, including eight
ground outs to Jenn Yee at second base. 

With the win, Canada has guaranteed itself a medal, which would
only be its second all-time at the ISF Women's World Championship.
The only other medal won by the Canadian Women's National Team
at the event was Silver in 1978. 

Please visit the Softball Canada website at http://www.softball.ca
for possible live video of the games. 

Canada 1 vs. China 0 

-SC- 

For more information, please contact: 

Gilles LeBlanc 
Manager - Marketing and Communications 
Softball Canada 
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105 
gleblanc at softball.ca
 Al's Fastball News
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