(Parana, Argentina) The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team remained undefeated at the IX Men’s Pan American Softball Championship with a 5-1 win over Cuba to improve its record to 4-0. Sean Cleary (Harbour Main, NL) fired 13 strikeouts in five innings and a third, and Canada’s offence was highlighted by a two-run single by Andy Skelton (Scarborough, ON) in the bottom of the fourth and back-to-back of run-scoring singles by Derek Mayson (North Vancouver, BC) and Brennan Pokoyoway (Saskatoon, SK) in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Both pitchers dominated the first half of the game, as Cleary retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced over the first five innings – 12 of them on strikeouts – with the only blemish being a leadoff single in the top of the second inning. Equal to the task in the early going, Cuban pitcher Gusbel Plutin retired Canada in order in each of the first three innings before running into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Canada quickly loaded the bases on an error, a double by Mathieu Roy (St, Gervais, QC) and an intentional walk to Gregg Garrity (Courtice, ON) before Skelton hit a two-run single. After a double play, Garrity scored on a passed ball to give Canada a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Cuba looked to get back into the game as the leadoff batter doubled, followed by a strikeout and a hit by pitch as Paul Koert (Brooklin, ON) came on in relief of Cleary. The next batter sacrificed the runners to second and third and Cuba was able to score one run on an error, but Koert struck out the next batter as Canada held on to a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Roy got a one-out single and stole second, and after a ground out, Joel Langford (Orleans, ON) walked to put two runners on base. Mayson singled to score Roy from second, followed by a single by Pokoyoway to plate Langford and increase Canada’s lead to 5-1. Koert allowed a leadoff single in the top of the seventh, but the next batter hit into a fielder’s choice followed by two strikeouts to end the game.
Box Score: Canada 5 vs. Cuba 1
Cleary allowed one unearned run on two hits and struck out 13 batters in five innings and a third, while Koert allowed one hit and struck out three in an inning and two thirds of relief. Offensively, Roy led the way with a double, a single and two runs scored, while Skelton, Mayson, Pokoyoway and Bryan Abrey (Richmond, BC) each had a single.
In a late score on Sunday night, Argentina (3-0) defeated Mexico (2-2) by a score of 8-2, and an early score on Monday saw Mexico hit a walk-off solo homerun in the bottom of the seventh to beat Guatemala (0-4) by a 2-1 score. The United States is currently playing the Dominican Republic while Argentina takes on Venezuela later tonight.
Canada (4-0) will play its next game against the United States (2-1) at 3:00pm EDT on Tuesday.
The event website can be found at
http://9panamericanosoftbol2014.com/eng/, with webstreaming available at
http://9panamericanosoftbol2014.com/eng/index.php/on-line. The event can also be followed on Facebook (
IX Panamericano de Softbol Masculino Conpasa Parana Argentina 2014) and Softball Argentina’s Twitter account (
@SoftbolARG).
How to Follow Team Canada
Softball Canada Website:
http://www.softball.ca
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/SoftballCanada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
