Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Team took it first loss of the WBSC Softball Americas Qualifier, falling 2-1 to Mexico on Saturday afternoon at Softball City. With the loss, Canada will need a win against Brazil on Sunday to secure a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The game was tense from the opening pitch, with Canada’s Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) and Dallas Escobedo from Mexico going pitch-for-pitch through two scoreless innings.
Team Canada broke the scoreless tie in the third by opening the scoring. After Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) and came around to score when Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) laced a double to the right-center field gap.
The 1-0 Canada lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth, when Mexico produced two runs to take the 2-1 lead. They loaded the bases with no outs on a single from Sashel Palacios, an error by the shortstop and a walk. A bases loaded walk forced in the tying run, and a one-out single by Nicole Rangel plated the go-ahead run. Back-to-back strikeouts by Danielle Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) ended the inning to keep Canada within one run.
Canada had a chance to even the game in the top of the sixth when Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, B.C.) led off the inning with a double to left, but Canada couldn’t find the clutch hit needed to bring her home and she was left stranded. Canada went down in order in the seventh as Mexico closed out the game to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Box Score: Mexico 2 vs. Canada 1
Groenewegen was the hard luck losing pitcher for Canada, leaving the game in the fifth with the bases loaded and two of those runners later coming in to score, one of them unearned after reaching on an error. In her four innings of work, she allowed only two hits and a walk and struck out three batters. Jenna Caira (Toronto, Ont.) gave up a hit and a walk and struck out one, while Lawrie struck out three batters without allowing a hit in an inning and two thirds. At the plate, Hayward and Jenkins each doubled with Holly Speers (Surrey, B.C.) adding a single. Both teams had three hits in the game.
Despite the loss, Canada still controls its own destiny as they would qualify for the Olympic Games with a win in their final Super Round game against Brazil at 3:30pm PDT (6:30pm PDT) on Sunday afternoon. The game will be webstreamed at cbc.ca/sports/broadcast.
The game was tense from the opening pitch, with Canada’s Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) and Dallas Escobedo from Mexico going pitch-for-pitch through two scoreless innings.
Team Canada broke the scoreless tie in the third by opening the scoring. After Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) and came around to score when Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) laced a double to the right-center field gap.
The 1-0 Canada lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth, when Mexico produced two runs to take the 2-1 lead. They loaded the bases with no outs on a single from Sashel Palacios, an error by the shortstop and a walk. A bases loaded walk forced in the tying run, and a one-out single by Nicole Rangel plated the go-ahead run. Back-to-back strikeouts by Danielle Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) ended the inning to keep Canada within one run.
Canada had a chance to even the game in the top of the sixth when Kelsey Jenkins (Delta, B.C.) led off the inning with a double to left, but Canada couldn’t find the clutch hit needed to bring her home and she was left stranded. Canada went down in order in the seventh as Mexico closed out the game to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Box Score: Mexico 2 vs. Canada 1
Groenewegen was the hard luck losing pitcher for Canada, leaving the game in the fifth with the bases loaded and two of those runners later coming in to score, one of them unearned after reaching on an error. In her four innings of work, she allowed only two hits and a walk and struck out three batters. Jenna Caira (Toronto, Ont.) gave up a hit and a walk and struck out one, while Lawrie struck out three batters without allowing a hit in an inning and two thirds. At the plate, Hayward and Jenkins each doubled with Holly Speers (Surrey, B.C.) adding a single. Both teams had three hits in the game.
Despite the loss, Canada still controls its own destiny as they would qualify for the Olympic Games with a win in their final Super Round game against Brazil at 3:30pm PDT (6:30pm PDT) on Sunday afternoon. The game will be webstreamed at cbc.ca/sports/broadcast.
