Pan Am Championship - Day 2
Saturday, August 01, 2009
(Maracay, Venezuela) – The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team claimed its first victory of the 2009 Women’s Pan Am Championship in Maracay, Venezuela in decisive fashion as they defeated Mexico 11-1 in five innings on Saturday. The game was in a rain delay for an extensive period of time in the first inning, but when play resumed Canada went to work to soundly defeat the Mexican team.
Canada got off to an early lead as Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) singled, Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) walked, and Jennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) hit a long sacrifice fly to drive in Matthews for the first run. Sheena Lawrick (Calgary, AB) then walked to set the stage for the three-run blast by Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON), putting Canada up 4-0 after one inning. In the second inning Matthews doubled and scored on an RBI single by Jennifer Salling, making the score 5-0.
In inning number three Canada exploded again with four more runs as three straight walks to Kaleigh Rafter, Erin Cumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) and Evelyne Pare (Ile-Perrot, QC) loaded the bases before Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York) drove in two runs with a single. Melanie Matthews later blasted a two-run homer to score both herself and Lever to run the score to 9-0. Canada added two more in the fourth inning as Kaleigh Rafter belted a two-run homer to score herself and Sheena Lawrick who had singled earlier in the frame. Mexico scored their lone run in the top of the fifth to round out the scoring.
Jenna Caira (Toronto, ON) threw a strong three-hitter in going the distance while recording eight strikeouts. Leading Canada offensively were Melanie Matthews who hit a single, a double and a home run with two RBI’s, and Kaleigh Rafter with two homeruns and five runs batted in.
Canada’s next action is Sunday at 11:30am EDT as they take on Guatemala.
-SC-
For more information, please contact:
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager – Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 x3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
www.softball.ca / www.BackSoftball.com