Surrey, B.C. – The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team got off on the right foot at the 2023 Canada Cup International Softball Championship with a 9-0 victory over Australia A in five innings on a beautiful Monday evening.

Team Canada got the scoring started early, putting its first run on the board in the top of the first. Kelsey Harshman (Delta, B.C.) started the momentum with a leadoff walk, eventually advancing to third. Erika Polidori (Brantford, Ont.) hit a ground ball to second, scoring Harshman to make it 1-0.

Sara Groenewegen (Surrey, B.C.) got the start in the pitching circle for Team Canada. Groenewegen finished the inning with two strikeouts to keep Australia off the board early.

In the bottom of the second, the bats came out hot when Callum Pilgrim (Abbotsford, B.C.) hit a perfect double down the left field line. Harshman made it 2-0 with her second hit of the game and her first run batted in double of the game, scoring Pilgrim.

Canada kept the scoring going when Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) kicked off the third inning with her first single of the game. Janet Leung (Mississauga, Ont.) came up next and hit a single. Kianna Jones (Surrey, B.C.) made it 4-0 off a two-run run batted in triple to right field. Canada broke the game wide open when Pilgrim hit a home run, increasing Canada’s lead to 6-0.

In the top of the fifth, Leung singled to first and then Nicole Rivait (Oakville, Ont.) singled to score Leung and then Pilgrim, who turned on the jets with some aggressive base running, which put the score out of reach at 8-0. Rylie Crane (Toronto, Ont.) got her first hit of the game with a run batted in single to cap off the scoring at 9-0.

Groenewegen finished the game with a five inning one-hitter, with eight strikeouts.

Box Score: Canada vs. Australia A

Team Canada will play two games on Tuesday starting at 1:00pm PDT (4:00pm EDT) against Greece and at 6:00pm PDT (9:00pm EDT) against Italy. All games will be streamed here.