Bradenton, Fla. – After a nearly month-long stay in Canada, the Canadian Women’s National Team flew down to Florida late Saturday night for their final preparations ahead of the World Games, dropping two tight 7-6 and 3-2 games to the Florida Vibe professional softball team on Sunday.
 
The Vibe struck early in the first game, getting apair of singles and scoring two runs on a double steal before Lynnsie Elam hit a solo homerun for an early 3-0 lead after one inning of play. Mandie Perez led off the bottom of the third with a homerun to increase the Vibe’s lead to 4-0. Team Canada’s bats woke up in the fourth, as Alysen Febrey (Peachtree City, Ga.) led off with a single through the right side of the infield and scored on a towering homerun to left by Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.) to cut the lead in half.
 
Elam added a two-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth to increase the Vibe lead to 6-2, but Canada came roaring back in the sixth. Jones led off by a walk followed by a double by Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) before Kelsey Lalor (Red Deer, Alta.) drilled a three-run homerun to left center. Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) followed with a double, advanced to third on a single by Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, Ont.) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kelsey Harshman (Delta, B.C.) to tie the game. Unfortunately for Canada, the Vibe led off the bottom of the seventh with two singles and after two ground ball outs, Jessi Puk lined a single to left-center to end the game.
 
Box Score: Florida Vibe 7 vs. Canada 6
 
Jorde Chartrand (Weyburn, Sask.) and Nicola Simpson (Seattle, Wash.) split the pitching duties for Canada, combining to scatter seven runs on 12 hits. Lalor’s three-run homerun and Jones’ two-run shot were the key hits for Canada, with Entzminger stroking two doubles and Leung and Victoria Hayward (Toronto, Ont.) each hitting one.
 
The second game was scoreless until the Vibe score two runs in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff triple with the runner scoring on a squeeze play and scoring another run two singles later to take a 2-0 lead. Canada responded in the top of the fourth when Jones and Entzminger connected with back-to-back solo homerun to tie the game. Elam hit a solo shot of her own in the bottom of the fifth to put the Vibe back on top, with Canada unable to get anything going in the last two innings.
 
Box Score: Florida Vibe 3 vs. Canada 2
 
Morgan Rackel (Calgary, Alta.) got the start in the circle for Canada, holding the Vibe to two runs on five hits and striking out two batters in four innings and a third. Ruby Anderson (Victoria, B.C.) was tagged with the loss, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts in an inning and two thirds of relief. Jones and Entzminger each homered for Canada, while Harshman had two singles and Hayward and Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.) each added one.
 
The two teams will square off with a single game at 1:00pm EDT on Monday, with live scoring and streaming available through the Florida Vibe website.