Junior Men` Worlds - Day 5
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Canada suffers 3-1 loss to Australia at Junior Men’s World Championships
(Whitehorse, Yukon) – Team Canada fought from behind all game long until the very last pitch, but ended up losing a 3-1 game to Australia in front of a huge crowd at the Pepsi Softball Center. The game between the only two undefeated teams went down to the wire, giving the fans a fantastic show and should certainly create a buzz heading towards the weekend.
Canada threatened to score from the get-go in the top of the first inning, as Dylan Cunningham (Belwood, ON) and Jessin Potskin (Prince George, BC) each connected with singles, but neither was able to come in to score. That proved to be costly for Canada, as the very first Australian hitter hit a solo homerun in the bottom half of the inning.
Canada managed two more hits in the third on singles by Derek Arsenie (Saskatoon, SK) and Mike Noftall (St. John’s, NL), but again was not able to push any runners to cross home plate. However, Canada kept pressuring the following inning and was rewarded for their efforts on a confusing play. After Joran Graham (Micksburgh, ON) reached on a fielder’s choice, Dan Mitchell (Paris, ON) hit a slow roller fielded by the second baseman who overthrew first base. After noticing the bad throw, Mitchell turned inside the baseline to go towards second, but the ball had rolled back to the first baseman, prompting Mitchell to return towards first base. As the Australian first baseman tagged Mitchell and appealed to the umpire, Graham raced to home and scored the tying run, while Mitchell was called out at first base.
However, the tie game was short lived as the first Australian hitter in the bottom of the inning blasted another homerun to left field, giving Australia a 2-1 lead. Australia then added to that lead in the fifth, when the two first batters delivered singles and one of them ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
The game all came down to the top of the seventh inning for Canada. Mitchell drove a one-out single through the right side of the infield, and pinch hitter Dennis Iron (Canoe Narrows, SK) walked to place runners on first in second for Canada with two outs. Terrell Walker (Balcarres, SK) stepped up to the plate representing the winning run, and jumped all over the first pitch hitting a sinking line drive to center field. In an all-or-nothing play, the center fielder made a spectacular diving catch to preserve the victory.
In the pitcher’s circle, Dustin Keshane (Norquay, SK) pitched another effective game. Aside from the two leadoff homeruns, Keshane was able to get himself out of trouble and keep his team in the game. In the end, he allowed three runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out four Australian hitters in six innings.
Beginning on Thursday, June 26th, tournament games on Field 1 will be aired through Ballpark Radio, including Canada against Japan (June 26th - 7:30pm PDT), Canada against the United States (June 27th – 7:30pm PDT) and all four playoff games on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th. Click on the logo below for a link to Ballpark Radio and a schedule of the games that will be covered.
-SC-
For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager: Marketing and Communications Services
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca