MATSUYAMA, Japan – The Women’s National Team responded to yesterday's loss against Japan with a 15-0, four-inning mercy win today over Korea at the III IBAF Women’s Baseball World Cup.
Although the game was called after four innings due to the mercy rule, this game took exactly five hours to complete due to frequent rain delays.
"That was the longest mercy rule game I've ever seen!" says third base coach Eric LaForest.
Canada opened the flood gates immediately by scoring 10 runs in the top of the first inning and then never looked back. They would go on to add two runs in the third inning and three run in the fourth inning to seal the win.
"I knew we would be ready for today. Our players have a lot of character and most important, we were solid with our pitching and defence,” says Manager André Lachance. “We do not lose many games when we pitch well and play sound defensively."
Marie-Josée Tremblay (St-Honoré, QC) started the game, allowing only one hit with three walks over two innings of work. Melanie Anctil (St-Hubert, QC) came in relief and she would also only give up one hit in her two innings on the mound. Anctil would also allow two walks with one strikeout.
"M-J was pitching well but because of the frequent and lengthy rain delays, we had to go to our bullpen", says Lachance. "Both pitchers were sharp and combined gave up only two hits."
Leading Canada's offensive assault was Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, ON), who was 2-for-2 with four RBI. Megan Cornellson (Grande-Prairie, AB) was 2-for-3 with three runs driven in while Amanda Asay (Prince George, BC) was 2-for-4 and drove three runs of her own. All nine hitters in the Canadian lineup reached base at least once and scored at least one run.
Canada now starts the divisional cross-over and will first take on the United States on Wednesday, August 27 at 12:30 pm local time at Botchan Stadium. Martine Nadeau (Québec City, QC) will get the start for Canada.
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