THUNDER BAY, ON – Mia Valcke (St. Mary’s, ON) went 5-for-5 at the plate and tallied three RBIs to guide Canada to a 9-8 extra innings victory over Chinese Taipei at Port Arthur Stadium on Thursday night.
The Canadian shortstop was clutch the entire game. All of her RBIs were to extend or give her team the lead. In five outings at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup, she has a .500 average and a 1.127 OPS.
Madison Willan (Edmonton, AB), who went 3-for-5, and Andréanne Leblanc (Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QC), who had a hit, drove in two runs each. Leblanc, a switch hitter, is on a three-game, five-RBI streak, while Willan has brought three runners home in her last two contests.
With the score tied in the third inning, Pei-Chen Huang, Chinese Taipei’s right-fielder, put her team ahead 7-5 after hitting a two-run home run to left field. She finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs.
Canada’s Sena Catterall (Pierrefonds, QC), who went 3-for-4 and now has six hits in her last two games, and Lucie Anctil (La Pocatière, QC) drove in the remaining runs for the hosts.
Sophy Gagné (1-0) of Sainte-Martine, QC, was the winning pitcher for Canada. She threw two innings, registered as many strikeouts, and didn’t allow a hit. Meanwhile, Hsiao-Mei Chen (0-1) was the losing pitcher.
Canada takes on Mexico on Saturday morning in the Bronze Medal Game. The first pitch is at 11:00 AM ET.
