EDMONTON-Canada struck for two runs in the bottom of the sixth breaking a 3-3 tie and hung on for a 5-4 win over Australia to move their record to 3-0 at the 5th IBAF Women’s Baseball World Cup.
With Meagan Cornelssen (Grande-Prairie, AB) standing on second base and one out in the sixth, Becky Hartley (White Rock, BC) drilled a triple to the wall in right field to put Canada up 4-3.
“I just think Becky was happy to get a good pitch to hit,” said Canadian Manager André Lachance. “She was able to put a good swing on it and got the result that she wanted which couldn’t have come at a better time for us.”
Hartley scored from third to put Canada in front by two when Jenna Flannigan (Cornwall, ON) followed with a single to left field.
Australia made things interesting in the top of the seventh scoring a run on a double and base-hit, but Jessica Bérubé (Québec, QC) managed a strikeout and groundout to preserve the win.
Bérubé did a masterful job coming out of the Canadian bullpen midway through the fourth and held the pesky Aussies at bay en route to recording the win.
Bérubé tossed 3 2/3 innings, scattered three hits and gave up two walks, while striking out two.
“We (the coaching staff) have been telling Jess that pitching in a World Cup is a moment that she will never forget,” explained Lachance when discussing his young pitcher. “Her performance today should give her the confidence to know that she can succeed at this level and I know we’ll need her again later in the tournament.
Canada had opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when they took advantage of two Australian errors which saw Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, ON) score from second when Kate Psota’s (Burlington, ON) grounder was booted by the second baseman.
Australia fought back in the top of the second when they scored three runs off Canadian starter Melissa Armstrong (Saskatoon, SK) who gave-up three singles and walk.
Armstrong tossed a scoreless third inning before being replaced by Bérubé with one out in the fourth after surrendering a single and a walk.
Canada only managed four hits during the game after achieving double digits in that category in each of the past two games.
“It was a little disappointing having only four hits after what we did the last two games,” added Lachance. “We’re happy with the outcome, but we’ll have to make some adjustments before tomorrow’s game.”
Canada will face a stiff test tomorrow when they take on the United States at TELUS Field.
Lachance hopes that his team can cut down on the amount of fly-ball outs they had today for tomorrow’s match-up with the US.
“We’ll have to put the ball in play and execute better both on offence and defence to be successful tomorrow,” he said.
Notes: Tomorrow’s game will begin at 9:30pm ET at TELUS Field in Edmonton…LIVE tournament scoring of all games, standings, stats and rosters can be found at www.ibaf.org
Make sure to follow Baseball Canada on Twitter (www.twitter.com/baseballcanada) for up-to-date news and information.
