Santiago, Chile – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning to earn a 6-1 win over Mexico in their first Super Round game at the Pan American Games on Thursday. Trailing 1-0 heading into the last inning, Canada produced six hits including three homeruns to complete the comeback.
 
Team Canada got runners on base with a single in each of the first three innings but was unable to move them any further, while starting pitcher Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) retired the first nine batters in order to keep Mexico off the bases as the game remained scoreless after three innings. In the top of the fourth, Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) hit a one out single and Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) doubled with two outs to put runners at second and third, but a fly out left both runners stranded. Mexico opened the scoring when Jillian Fernandez led off with a homerun in the bottom of the inning.
 
“I thought early on we gave away some at-bats” said Head Coach Kaleigh Rafter after the game. “We knew what we were looking for and swinging at the right pitches, but our swing execution wasn’t to our standards.”
 
The red and white continued to put runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings, but a double play slowed things down in the fifth and Erika Polidori (Brantford, Ont.) led off the sixth with a single and moved her way up to third but was left stranded on a strikeout to end the inning. Canada’s pitching kept Mexico in check after the homerun, with that being the only hit Groenewegen allowed in her four innings of work. Morgan Rackel (Calgary, Alta.) relieved her in the bottom of the fifth and held Mexico to only one hit that inning and retired them in order in the sixth to keep the game close.
 
“I felt good. As a pitcher, you want to go out there and get your team back in the dugout with as limited damage as you can” said Groenewegen in a postgame interview. “I feel like I did a good job with that and so did Morgan when she came in with Dawn closing it out. It’s been fun pitching as a collective. A lot of teams don’t do that, but we have it as a strategy where we go usually with more than one pitcher in a game. I feel like we did our job holding them to only one run, it was a lot of fun to pitch as a staff today.”
 
In the top of the seventh, Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.) tied the game with a leadoff homerun immediately followed by a go-ahead homerun by Callum Pilgrim (Abbotsford, B.C.) to give Canada a 2-1 lead. After a pop out for the first out, Kelsey Harshman (Delta, B.C.) singled to left followed by a double to left-center by Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge, B.C.) before Polidori delivered a clutch two-run single. Hicks followed that up with a two-run blast left to complete the big inning.
 
Mexico managed to get two singles in the bottom of the seventh, but Dawn Bodrug (Georgetown, Ont.) recorded the final out with a strikeout to end the game.
 
Box Score: Canada 6 vs. Mexico 1
 
Team Canada improved to 1-1 in the Super Round after carrying over a 3-2 loss to Puerto Rico from the preliminary round, while Mexico dropped to 0-2. The United States (1-0) and Puerto Rico (1-0) will play at 10:00am local time (9:00am EDT)) on Friday, followed by Canada’s matchup with the United States at 1:00pm (noon EDT). Mexico and Puerto Rico will play the last Super Round game at 4:00pm (3:00pm EDT). The top two teams at the end of the Super Round will play for the gold medal on Saturday, and the next two will play for bronze.