Pan Am Championship - Day 7
Thursday, August 06, 2009
(Maracay, Venezuela) – The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team improved its second-place record to 8-1 in Pool B at the 2009 Women’s Pan Am Championship in Maracay, Venezuela by defeating Jamaica 15-0 in the final game of the preliminary round. A 1-0 loss to Venezuela on Wednesday was the only blemish on Canada record, as they outscored their opponents 94-6 in the preliminary round.
The red and white started slowly with one run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead over Jamaica. Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) doubled, moved to third and scored on back-to-back sacrifice fly balls by Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York) and Jenn Salling (Port Coquitlam, BC) for the first Canadian run. In the second inning, Canada exploded for 10 runs to increase the score to 11-0. Kaleigh Rafter (Guelph, ON) walked and Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) singled to set the stage for a three-run homerun by Charlotte Dolan (Coquitlam, BC) putting Canada up 4-0. Victoria Hayward (Mountain View, California) and Melanie Matthews both singled before Jenn Salling tripled to drive in two more Canadian runs. A single by Jennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) then scored Salling increasing the lead to 7-0. Kaleigh Rafter singled, Jessica Tieszen (Surrey, BC) was hit by a pitch, Megan Timpf walked and another walk by Charlotte Dolan pushed across another run for Canada. A triple by Victoria Hayward drove in three more Canadian runs to end the inning at 11-0 for Canada.
The Canadians scored four more runs in the third inning as Caitlin Lever walked, Erin Cumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) singled and Jennifer Yee drove in two more runs with a single. Megan Timpf then walked and Charlotte Dolan ripped a double to drive in two more runs and push the score to 15-0. Canada shut down Jamaica in the fourth and the game was called on the run rule.
Winning pitcher Marisa Litster (North Saanich, BC) pitched a four inning no-hitter and struck out three batters in the process.
The playoff round begins on Friday with Canada (8-1) playing the first-place team in Pool A, the United States (9-0) at 3:30pm EDT, while Venezuela (9-0) – first in Pool B – plays Cuba (8-1), who finished second in the A division, at 6:00pm EDT. All four teams have double-life, as the winning teams from those games will square off to determine who will get a direct berth to the Championship game. The two losing teams will face a longer road.
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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