USA Evens Canadian Open Championship with win over Canada

[Al's Fastball News]

Canadian Open Fastpitch Marquee Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
July 11, 2010 

USA Evens Canadian Open Championship with win over Canada 

(Surrey, BC) The United States evened the Canadian Open Championship
Marquee Series with Team Canada after defeating the red and white
3-1 in the fourth and final game played at Softball City in Surrey,
BC. Both teams will fly to Whitehorse, YK on Monday before playing
each other on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Pepsi Softball Centre,
which will host the 2012 ISF XIII Women's World Championship.


Canada seemed poised to score in the top of the first when Caitlin
Lever (Buffalo, New York) doubled and advanced to third on a
groundout, but Canada was unable to push her in to score. 

Team USA got things going in the bottom of the first inning,
as Brittany Lastrapes reached on a dropped third strike, advanced
to second on a groundout, and scored on a double by Kaitlin Cochran.
Megan Langenfeld then hit a single that pushed Cochran in to
score, giving the Americans an early 2-0 lead. 

>From there, starting pitchers Angela Tincher from Team USA and
Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) took over. In the top of the fourth,
Jen Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) led off with a single, stole
second base and advanced to third by tagging up on a deep fly
ball to center, but Tincher struck out the next two batters to
get out of the inning. 

That seemed to spark the Americans, as Molly Johnson, Ashley
Hansen and Lauren Schutzler all hit one-out singles to load the
bases, but only Johnson scored on an RBI groundout, increasing
the lead to 3-0. 

Team Canada got on the board in the top of the sixth, as Jen
Salling got things started again with a two-out single and scored
on a double by Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) to the left-centerfield
gap. Heather Ebert (Rosthern, SK) followed that up with a single
and advanced on a throw to the cutoff to place runners on second
and third, but Tincher notched a huge strikeout to keep a two-run
lead. 

Canada threatened once again in the seventh as Caitlin Lever
was hit by a pitch and Jenn Yee (North Delta, BC) singled with
two outs, but Tincher once again shut the offence down by striking
out the next hitter to end the game. 

Canadian starting pitcher Jenna Caira allowed three runs on six
hits, striking out three batters over four innings. Ashley Lanz
(Winnipeg, MB) pitched the final two innings, allowing only one
walk to go along with two strikeouts. Tincher allowed one run
on seven hits with eight strikeouts to earn the complete game
win. 

At the plate, Jenn Yee and Jen Salling led the way for Canada
with two hits each, while Caitlin Lever, Kaleigh Rafter and Heather
Ebert each hit one. 

The two teams will return to action on Tuesday at 6:30pm PDT
at the Pepsi Softball Centre in Whitehorse, YK. 

Canada 1 vs. United States 3: Box score and Play-by-Play 

-SC- 

For more information, please contact: 

Gilles LeBlanc 
Manager - Marketing and Communications 
Softball Canada 
(613) 797-7171 
gleblanc(at)softball.ca
  
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