GRANBY, QC-It was all Japan on the first day of the Canada-Japan Women’s Series as the Saitama Sakae Beavers (1-0) earned a 6-5 victory over Canada Red (0-1) in the tournament opener, while the Saitama Sakae Orange (1-0) cruised to a 5-2 win over Canada White (0-1) in the evening game.
Saitama Sakae Beavers 6 Canada Red 5
The Saitama Sakae Beavers rallied late with two runs in the top of the sixth to overcome a one run deficit and went onto a 6-5 win over Canada Red at Napoléon-Fontaine Stadium. Trailing 4-0 after an inning and a half, Canada Red responded with a run in the second inning, two runs in the third and a run in the fourth to tie the game.
Autumn Mills (London, ON) got things going in the second with and RBI single and Stéphanie Savoie (Québec, QC) singled in the third scoring Kate Psota (Burlington, ON) who had previously doubled.
Canada Red took the lead in the fifth when Meagan Cornelssen (Grande-Prairie, AB) scored on a sac-fly off the bat of Niki Boyd (Whalley, BC).
The lead didn’t last long however, as the Beavers responded with two runs in the sixth.
A single followed by an RBI double scored the tying run and after a fielder’s choice, the go ahead run scored on a ground-out.
Gabrielle Demers (Gatineau, QC) tossed a scoreless inning in relief in the top of the seventh before Canada Red was retired in the bottom half to end the game.
Saitama Sakae Orange 5 Canada White 2
Tonomi Nakada and Nana Sasanuma Orange combined on a two-hitter as the Saitama Sakae Orange rolled to a 5-2 victory over Canada White.
Nakada went five innings allowing only a double to Katelyn Bedwell (Surrey, BC) in the first and single to Emma Carr (Toronto, ON) in the fifth.
Bedwell’s double scored Bradi Wall (Swift Current, SK) to give Canada White a 1-0 lead and they went up by two when Wall had an RBI groundout in the third.
The Orange stormed back with two runs in the bottom of the third with a run scoring on an RBI double and another crossing the plate on a fielder’s choice.
Two more runs scored for the Orange off Canada White starter Brinley McLaren (Brantford, ON) who tossed four innings giving up six hits, while striking out three batters.
Vanessa Riopel (Repentigny, QC) tossed a scoreless inning in the bottom of the sixth.
Notes: Action continues today at 2pm ET when Canada White takes on the Saitama Sakae Beavers, while the 7pm ET game features Canada Red against the Satama Sakae Orange.
All of the action can be followed live, courtesy of Pointstreak, at www.baseball.ca/cjwomen
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