Canada, USA, Japan lead round-robin at Canada Cup softball

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Team Canada defeats Japan Denso Club 11-4 at Canada Cup softball

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Denso Club (Japan) and Team Canada line up for national anthem at Canada Cup softball

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Surrey, British Columbia, Canada (2007/7/2) — Team Canada, USA, and Japan are leaders undefeated in three games at the 2007 Canada Cup international women’s fast pitch softball tournament in round-robin play at South Surrey Athletic Park.

The Canadian squad overpowered Denso Club from Japan 11-4 on Monday on the strength of a 6-run third inning highlighted with a grand slam by pinch hitter Ashley Van Boxmeer.  Canada’s starter (P) Katie Rosentreter pitched a complete game (6 innings with mercy-rule in effect) striking out 6 while allowing 4 runs on 7 hits.  Rosentreter fought through a first inning jam as Denso Club scored 3 runs to take an early 3-1 lead.  Canada responded with 9 unanswered runs over the next 3 innings that forced Denso Club starting pitcher Riso Uno out of the game on 13 hits.

In earlier action on Sunday, Canada dispatched Gold Coast Hurricanes from Florida 10-0 to commemorate Canada Day.  With a 3-0 lead, the Canadians scored 5 runs in the second inning before adding 2 more in the third to complete the game on mercy-rule.  Facing Gold Coast’s (P) Kelsie Dunne with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, (C) Cambria McKay doubled to drive in 3 Canadian runs.  But McKay ended the inning herself on the play as she was tagged out at third base trying to stretch her hit into a triple.  Canada’s starter (P) Danielle Lawrie was commanding over 3 innings with 6 strikeouts, yielding only one hit and one walk.

Team USA improved to 3-0 in round-robin play as its offence came alive to score a combined 21 runs in its victories against Australia on Monday and Puerto Rico on Sunday.  In their 11-0 win against defending 2006 Canada Cup champion Team Australia, the Americans rallied for 8 runs in the second inning sparked by (RF) Caitlin Lowe’s bases clearing 3-RBI triple against (P) Jocelyn McCallum.  USA’s starter (P) Jenny Finch Daigle dominated Australian batters in her complete game performance (4 innings with mercy-rule in effect) striking out 8 while allowing only one hit and one walk.  The American squad have yet to surrender a run over 14 innings played in the tournament.

To join Canada as pool co-leader at 3-0, Team Japan rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge Gold Coast Hurricanes 3-2 on Monday.  Japanese reliever (P) Naho Emoto pitched 3 innings and allowed only one run in replacing starter (P) Mika Someya.  Earlier, Japan overwhelmed Venezuela 13-3 mainly by way of a 6-run first inning.  With a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first against Venezuela’s (P) Mariella Espinoza, Japan added 3 more runs when (C) Yuza Suzuki hit a 2-RBI double with the bases loaded before (CF) Eriko Matsusaki scored on an error.

Round-robin play continues through Thursday with the top 4 teams in each pool advancing to the elimination championship round.

Score summaries:

-- Jul. 2, 2007 (Day 3) --

• Dominican Republic 3-9 Gold Coast Hurricanes
• Georgia Wilson Select 2-3 Venezuela
• USA 11-0 Australia
• Japan 3-2 Gold Coast Hurricanes
• Chinese Taipei 10-0 White Rock Renegades
• Canada 11-4 Japan Denso Club
• Japan Elite 7-0 Washington Absolute Blast
  

-- Jul. 1, 2007 (Day 2) --

• Puerto Rico 0-10 USA
• Japan Denso Club 10-3 Georgia Wilson Select
• Chinese Taipei 3-4 Australia (F/9)
• Washington Absolute Blast 13-6 White Rock Renegades
• Gold Coast Hurricanes 0-10 Canada
• White Rock Renegades 1-8 Japan Elite
• Japan 13-3 Venezuela
• Dominican Republic 1-10 Georgia Wilson Select

Standings:

-- White Pool --

• USA: 3W-0L
• Japan Elite: 2W-1L
• Chinese Taipei: 2W-1L
• Australia: 2W-1L
• Washington Absolute Blast: 2W-2L
• Puerto Rico: 0W-2L
• White Rock Renegades: 0W-4L
  

-- Red Pool --

• Canada: 3W-0L
• Japan 3W-0L
• Japan Denso Club: 2W-1L
• Gold Coast Hurricanes: 1W-2L
• Venezuela: 1W-2L
• Georgia Wilson Select: 1W-3L
• Dominican Republic: 0W-3L

Source: Canada Cup