Women's Baseball World Cup: Canada slugs out win over Australia

Photo Credit: Baseball Canada

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

VIERA, Florida – Jenna Flannigan’s (Cornwall, Ont.) two-out double in the top of the sixth scored two to give Canada (3-1) a lead they would not give up en route to a crucial 9-6 win over Australia (2-2) at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup.

Anne-Sophie Lavallée (Boucherville, Que.) took care of the rest tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts to pick up her second win of the tournament.

“This was a big character win for our team,” said Canadian Manager André Lachance. “We received contributions up and down our line up and from players off the bench. It was a real team-win tonight.”

The name of the game was swing the bats and see who could score the most runs and Canada did just that pounding-out 16 hits, including six players with multi-hit games to score runs in all but two offensive innings.

Australia scored four runs in the fourth to go up 6-3 chasing Canadian starter Allison Schroder (Fruitvale, BC) from the game, but Canada was quick to respond adding three in the fifth on a Flannigan RBI single and a two-run double off the bat of Kaitlyn Ross (Redcliff, Alta.). 

“There’s no quit in this team and we showed that tonight,” stated Lachance. “We have a group  (of players) that plays for one another, believes in one another and does what it takes to win.”

Lavallée took over from reliever Liz Gilder (Port Moody, BC) with a runner on first and one out in the fifth and went to work right away getting a pair of ground outs to end the frame before erasing a two out double in the sixth when Kelsey Lalor (Red Deer, Alta.) made a tremendous diving catch in left that surely save a run from scoring.

Lalor contributed on both sides of the ball going 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.

“That catch was a big time play,” added Lachance. “This game was full of momentum swings and that play really could have made a difference if it were a different result.”

Nicole Luchanksi’s (Edmonton, Alta.) sac-fly in the seventh scored Ella Matteucci (Fruitvale, BC) to give Canada a much-needed insurance run before Lavallée worked around a pair of base runners in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.

Daphnée Gelinas (Repentigny, Que.) kept swinging a hot bad with a pair of hits on the day including a double in the first, while Kate Psota (Burlington, Ont.) returned to action with a 2-for-4 performance.

UP NEXT: Canada will close out Opening Round play on Sunday against the Dominican Republic with the first pitch set to fly at Noon ET…The game will be streamed on the WBSC YouTube channel.

LINKS:

WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Website
WBSC YouTube Channel
Baseball Canada Women’s National Team Roster