Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team went two for two on Tuesday, with a 7-2 win against Greece and a 7-4 win against Italy at the 2023 Canada Cup International Softball Championship.

In the first game against Greece, Team Canada got out to an early lead in the top of inning after a Kelsey Harshman (Delta, B.C.) ground ball to centre. Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) then doubled on a line drive to left field, scoring Harshman to make it 1-0. Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) singled to left field, advancing Hicks to third. Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.) hit a sacrifice fly to centre, scoring Hicks, 2-0 Canada. The runs kept coming when Callum Pilgrim (Abbotsford, B.C.) grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Leung to increase the lead to three. Canada would add one more run in the inning when Grace Messmer (Surrey, B.C.) singled on a line drive, scoring Pilgrim.

Samantha Ryan (Monroe, N.Y.) would get the start in the circle for Canada. Greece added two runs in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch and a fly ball to make it 4-2.

Canada added two more runs in the top of the third. Pilgrim kicked off the inning with a single to first, then eventually stole second. Messmer doubled on a line drive to centre, making it 5-2. Harshman added to the lead with a ground ball to score Messmer, 6-2 Canada.

In the bottom of the fourth, Dawn Bodrug (Georgetown, Ont.) entered the pitching circle for Team Canada, throwing three consecutive strikeouts to keep the score at 6-2.

Canada increased their lead to five in the fifth when Kristen Boyd (Carbon, Alta.) tripled on a line drive for her first ever Canada Cup hit, scoring Messmer to finish the game 7-2.

Game two of the day was another dominant performance for Canada both defensively and offensively. Morgan Rackel (Calgary, Alta.) got the start and looked solid from the get-go, only giving up four hits and one run.

The runs came early for Canada, starting in the bottom of the first with three on only one out. Harshman walked to first after being hit by a pitch. Emma Entzminger (Victoria, B.C.) doubled to right field, scoring Harshman to make it 1-0. Hicks then hit a nice single down the middle. Leung hit an RBI single to score Entzminger, 2-0 Canada. Pilgrim remained hot at the plate and singled on a line drive, scoring Hicks to end the inning with a three-run lead.

In the top of the third, Italy got on the board when Mckenzie Barbara hit a home run to make it 3-1.

Leung answered back in the bottom of the third with a home run of her own to make it 4-1. Jones then singled, with Pilgrim doubling on a fly ball to centre field. Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, Ont.) grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Jones for run number five.

The bats kept swinging in the fourth when Harshman singled on a line drive to centre. Entzminger then stepped up to the plate and hit a two-run home run on a fly ball to left field to make it 7-1.

Canada made a pitching change in the fifth inning with Morgan Reimer (Langley, B.C.) stepping into the circle. Italy then cut the deficit to five with an RBI double. Italy then scored again off a Canada error to make it 7-3. Canada’s lead was cut to three when Italy scored on a hard ground ball to left field.

In the top of the sixth, Canada made another pitching change with Ruby Anderson (Victoria, B.C.) coming in for Reimer.

Canada would close out their third consecutive win with a final score of 7-4.

Team Canada will look to stay undefeated on Wednesday against TC Colorado at 2:00pm PDT (5:00pm EDT) and against Mexico at 6:30pm PDT (9:30pm EDT). All games will be streamed here.