Parana, Argentina – The Canadian Men’s National Softball Team improved its record to 2-0 with a 3-1 win over Argentina in an early morning thriller at the XI Pan American Championship. After all three games earlier in the day went over the their three-hour time slots, the game began at 10:45pm local time (9:45pm EDT) on Monday night and went scoreless through six innings before both teams got going offensively in the seventh.
 
The fans in the stadium and watching at home were treated to a great pitching matchup between Argentina’s Huemul Mata and Canada’s Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, N.L.). Canada got a few runners on base against Mata early with leadoff batter Mathieu Roy (St-Gervais, Que.) drawing a walk followed by a single by Bradley Ezekiel (Harbour Main, N.L.) to start the game, but Mata bounced back with two strikeouts and after an error loaded the bases, he was able to escape the inning with a fielder’s choice on a ground ball to second. Argentina managed a two-out double to left in the bottom of the inning, but Cleary struck out the next batter.
 
Canada got a leadoff walk in the top of the second, but that baserunner was called out for a lead off at first, with Argentina also drawing a leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame but Cleary struck out the next three batters. Both pitchers settled in until Juan Zara hit a double off the bag at third base with one out in the bottom of the fourth. The next batter worked a walk, and Cleary came right back with a strikeout and a ground out to shortstop to leave both runners stranded. Ezekiel singled to center with one out in the sixth and moved up to third after a pair of wild pitches, but Mata was able to work his way out of the inning with a fly out and a ground out to shortstop. Argentina’s leadoff batter reached on an error to start the bottom of the sixth, but pinch runner Franco Ortellado was thrown out trying to steal second by Canadian catcher Bryan Abrey (Richmond, B.C.).
 
Cory Jones (Leduc, Alta.) got Canada’s bats going with a leadoff single past the third baseman to start the top of the seventh. A sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Patrick Burns (Saskatoon, Sask.) up to second, and Burns was able to get back to the bag safely on a ground ball to Mata by Abrey batter as Canada got two runners on base. Colin Walsh (Petty Habour, N.L.) singled through the left side of the infield to score Burns to open the scoring, and after a fielder’s choice retired Abrey at home, Roy and Ezekiel hit back-to-back RBI singles to give Canada a late 3-0 lead.
 
Argentina got a perfectly placed bunt single by Pablo Migliavacca with one out in the bottom of the inning and he later scored on a single by Juan Malarczuk, but that was as close as Argentina would get as Cleary notched two strikeouts and got the last batter to ground out to shortstop to end the game at 1:45am local time.
 
Box Score: Canada 3 vs. Argentina 1
 
Cleary earned the complete game win, allowing only one run while scattering five hits and four walks, striking out 13 batters along the way. Ezekiel led Canada offensively with three singles and a run batted in, with Walsh and Roy each adding an RBI single. Jones also chipped in with a single to get the seventh inning rolling.
 
Canada (2-0) was scheduled to play Puerto Rico (0-1) at 8:00am EDT on Tuesday but the game has been rescheduled to start at 11:00am EDT.
 
In the late games on Sunday night, Colombia blanked Puerto Rico 4-0 and Argentina was leading the United States 2-0 in the third when the game was postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be continued later in the week. Other scores on Monday saw Mexico (1-1) edge Guatemala (1-2) by a score of 5-4 in eight innings, Cuba (2-0) earned a key 4-3 win in 10 innings against Venezuela (1-1), and the United States (1-0) defeated Colombia (1-2) 14-7.
 
Live streaming for the XI Pan American Championship is available on Facebook Live through the WBSC Americas and Softball Canada pages, and through the Softball Premier TV YouTube page.
 
Team Canada coverage is available through the Softball Canada website and social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.