Irvine, California – The Canadian National Junior Women’s Team split the first day of Super Round action, taking game one against Mexico 4-0 before taking their first loss of the tournament in game two, falling 12-0 to the United States in four innings.
 
Despite the score, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Canada, with Mexico pressuring early with a one-out walk followed by a single that put runners on first and second. Madelyn Hickingbottom (Glen Williams, Ont.) was up to the challenge, with two big back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
 
Canada got the scoring started early, with a run in their half of the first. Mexico got two quick outs, but a Grace Messmer (Surrey, B.C.) walked, and Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.) legged out an infield single to put runners on first and second. Messmer took third on a wild pitch, and scrambled home on another for the 1-0 lead.
 
There was more pressure from Mexico in the second, as Kayla Inzunza hit a rocket for a one-out triple. Much like the first inning, Hickingbottom eliminated the threat with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Team Canada extended the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Kendra Falby (Tampa, Fla.) opened the inning with a walk, an errant pickoff throw allowed her to move to second, took third on the third wild pitch of the night from Mexico and crossed home on a sacrifice fly from Messmer. More two-out hitting got Canada their second run of the inning when Kianna Jones singled up the middle and moved over to third when Lauren Benson (Surrey, B.C.) ripped a single down the third base line and came home on another wild pitch for the 3-0 lead.
 
The final run of the contest came in the fourth off the bat of Allyse Volpe (Scarborough, Ont.), scoring Hayley Grice (Surrey, B.C.) from second with a solid single to center.
 
Hickingbottom had a strong five inning outing in the circle for Canada. She ended the night allowing two hits and walks without allowing a run and struck out eight, and her first six outs of the night came via the strikeout. Kianna Jones finished out the game for Canada, with two innings of work where she allowed no runs on two hits and three strikeouts.
 
Box Score: Canada 4 vs Mexico 0
 
Game two was a dominant win by the United States, pitching a combined four inning perfect game against Canada starting with Megan Faraimo who went three innings and then an inning from Alexis Kilfoyl to close out the game.
 
On the offensive side of the ledger, the Americans got the scoring started early, with a run in the first, and never took their foot off the gas, adding four runs in the second, five runs in the third and finally two runs in the fourth to finish off the scoring in the contest.
 
Box Score: Canada 0 vs USA 12
 
On Wednesday Canada faces off against Japan at 7:30pm EDT as the Super Round continues.