Women’s Baseball World Cup: Canada gets by Australia to “punch ticket’ to Finals
Canada punched their tickets to the 2024 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Finals after an 11-7 win over Australia at Port Arthur Stadium on Saturday. Photo: Baseball Canada
August 12, 2023
Baseball Canada
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Canada has punched their tickets to the 2024 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Finals after an 11-7 win over Australia at Port Arthur Stadium on Saturday.
Canada already had a spot in the Finals locked up as the host country with the event set to take place in Thunder Bay next year but has now earned their way after picking up their third win in Group A, guaranteeing no worse than a third-place finish in the six-team group stage event.
Down 7-4 after Australia scored five runs in the home half of the fifth, Sena Catterall (Pierrefonds, Que.) led off with the sixth inning with a triple to left-centre and scored on Ela Day-Bédard’s (Gatineau, Que.) sacrifice fly.
That set off a flurry of activity from Canada’s offence as they proceeded to plate two more runs to tie the score with Alexane Fournier (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.) collecting her third and fourth RBIs of the game with a single to centre that saw Alizée Gélinas (Trois-Riviéres, Que.) score while Zoe Hicks (Boissevain, Man.) showed some heady base running to tie the game.
After Raine Padgham (Abbotsford, B.C.) stranded a runner to keep Australia off the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning, Madison Willan (Edmonton, Alta.) took advantage of a bases loaded situation in the top of the seventh to collect an RBI on a ground out to give Canada the lead.
Gélinas came through later with a single to centre to score two runs before Fournier added her third hit of the game to score another that gave her five RBIs on the night.
Padgham went out for her third inning of work in the seventh and retired three batters in a row, including one strikeout after allowing a single and walk to start the frame.
Canada had taken a 4-0 lead in the third to open the scoring before Australia scored two in the bottom of the inning.
Allison Schroder (Fruitvale, B.C.) tossed four innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and four walks before Padgham came on for the final three innings.
Canada (3-1) will face South Korea (0-4) on Sunday at Port Arthur Stadium with the first pitch set for 7:30 p.m. E.T.