Guatemala City, Guatemala - Team Canada took on Mexico on Wednesday, November 16 in a must win game to keep the chances alive for a double life in the knockout stage at the 2022 WBSC Women’s Pan American Championship. 

After a scoreless top of the first inning for Canada, Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.), took the mound in the bottom of the first inning.  She needed only five pitches to retire the side in order after inducing two fly outs and one ground out.   

Canada opened the scoring in the top of the second inning pushing across one run when Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) was hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score when Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) hit a two out run scoring single up the middle.  

Sara Groenewegen shut the Mexico offense down in the top of the second as well as she retired all the batters she faced via the strikeout.  

Canada exploded for four more runs in the top of the third inning. Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.), singled with one out and was brought home with a double off the bat of Kelsey Harshman (Delta, B.C.).  Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.), added a single of her own before Alysen Febrey (Peachtree City, GA.) launched a run-scoring double off the wall in left field. Janet Leung then cashed in both runners with a two run-scoring single to push the Canada lead to 5-0. 

Groenewegen scattered a walk as well as a hit in the bottom of the third inning but also recorded three more outs via the strikeout to end the threat.  

After two quick outs in the top of the fourth, Canada went on to record five runs.  A walk by Kelsey Lalor (Red Deer, Alta.) was followed by a run-scoring triple off the bat of Larissa Franklin.  Kelsey Harshman followed with an run-scoring single. After a Kianna Jones walk, Alysen Febrey and Janet Leung added a run-scoring single and a two run-scoring single respectively.  

Morgan Rackel (Calgary, Alta.) came on to relieve Sara Groenewegen in the bottom of the fourth. She allowed a one out hit but retired the next two batters - one via a fly out and one via a strikeout to end the game as Canada was ahead by a score of 10-0. 

Canada finishes the round robin in second place and will play the USA Thursday, November 17 at 12:45pm CST. A livestream feed will be available throughout the tournament on Softball Canada’s Facebook page and the WBSC Americas YouTube page.