CAROLINA, Puerto Rico - The Women’s National Team has booked a ticket to Rockford, Illinois in July for the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Group Stage after sweeping Puerto Rico in three games to win the WBSC Americas qualifying series between the two nations.
After a convincing 14-0 win on Thursday, Canada used a strong start on the mound from Michelle Roche (Burnaby, BC) in an 8-3 win before blanking Puerto Rico 10-0 to clinch the series on a strong pitching performance from Alli Schroder (Fruitvale, BC), strengthened by an inside-the park home run from Sena Catterall (Pierrefonds, QC).
Canada will be one of six teams in Rockford from July 22-26 along with host USA, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea and Mexico. The top three teams will qualify for the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Finals, also to be held in Rockford in July 2027.
Game 1: Canada 8, Puerto Rico 3
In the first game of the doubleheader Roche tossed five scoreless innings shutting down Puerto Rico’s offense only allowing two hits while striking out five.
In the early goings Canada took a three run lead in the first inning showing strong plate discipline forcing a bullpen move from Puerto Rico. The bats were hot in the second inning with four singles, two of them being run-scoring hits from Madison Willan (Edmonton, AB) and power hitter Andréanne Leblanc (Mont-Saint-Hillaire, QC).
Willan finished the game with three RBIs while Leblanc had two bringing her two-game total to five after belting a three-run homer on Thursday.
Canada got into their own bullpen for the first time in the series in the sixth with lefty Liz Gilder (Port Moody, BC) coming in for an inning of relief in the sixth and allowing one run before Mikael Fields (Shortts Lake, NS) came out to close the game off in the seventh allowing 2 runs with one strikeout.
Three players had perfect performances from the plate in Mia Valcke (St. Marys, ON), Willan, and Alizée Gélinas (Trois-Riviéres,QC). Valcke went 3-for-3, with a walk, four runs scored, and crushed a triple in the sixth inning. Gélinas was 2-for-2 on the day with two walks, an RBI, and came around to score once.
Game 2: Canada 10, Puerto Rico 0
Canada put up four runs in the second inning keyed by a Sena Catterall two-run single and rode the right arm of veteran Alli Schroder (Fruitvale, BC) who tossed five scoreless innings in a 10-0 victory.
Catterall added an inside-the-park home run in the sixth to put Canada ahead by seven on a ball that she drilled to centrefield and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
Schroder scattered just two hits and a walk while striking out five batters.
Canada would add a pair of runs in the fourth with Claire Eccles (Surrey, BC) using a lead off single to later score on a wild throw from the catcher on a steal of third, while Lucie Anctil (La Pocatiére, QC) drove in another on a fielder’s choice.
After Catterall’s homer in the sixth, Ela Day-Bedard (Gatineau, QC) tripled in two runs before scoring on Emily Baxter’s (Toronto, ON) single to put Canada up by ten.
With the ten-run mercy rule looming, Jaida Lee (St. John’s, NL) came out of the bullpen and worked a scoreless inning that included a strikeout to end the game.
WBSC Americas tournament website
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