Women’s World Cup: Bats lead Canada to comeback victory over Cuba

Photo Credit: Baseball Canada

August 23, 2018

By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

VIERA, Florida – Down by margins of five, six and four runs through the first three innings against Cuba, the Women’s National Team rallied in a big way to earn a 10-7 for their second victory in a row at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup.

Just like yesterday’s opening game win over Hong Kong, today’s game was declared official after just five innings due to a severe thunderstorm.

“All wins in this tournament are big but this one was big for us dealing with the adversity that we faced and how we overcame it,” said Canadian manager André Lachance. “I’m proud of the way our group competed today, didn’t panic and ended up with a positive result.

“I had no doubt in my mind that we’d be able to come back after getting behind (early).”

Daphnée Gelinas (Repentigny, Que.) keyed a four-run fourth inning with a pinch-hit RBI triple that got the offence rolling including RBI singles from Nicole Luchanski (Edmonton, Alta.) and Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, Ont.), as Canada clawed their way back to tie the score.

“That hit by Daphnée was huge for us,” continued Lachance. “It really got our bats going and gave our team the spark that we needed.”

Gelinas was at it again in the fifth as her sac fly scored Niki Boyd (Surrey, B.C.) with the go ahead run before Canada added two more on singles from Kate Psota (Burlington, Ont.) and Kelsey Lalor (Red Deer, Alta.).

Things did not start out well for starting pitcher Amanda Asay (Prince George, B.C.) in the top of the first as a walk, three hits and pair of errors led to five Cuban runs crossing the plate including two on separate squeeze (bunt) plays.

Asay sat the Cubans down in order in the second before they pulled the squeeze play out of their bag of tricks again in the third and added another run in the frame to go up 7-1.

“We put ourselves in a tough spot, but thankfully it was early and we were able to work out of it,” added Lachance.

Canada fought back with two runs in the bottom of the third thanks to a bases loaded walk to Claire Eccles (Surrey B.C.) and Ashley Stephenson’s RBI on a fielder’s choice.

Meanwhile, Asay was just heating up putting up zeroes in the fourth and fifth innings with three strikeouts.

Of Canada’s 15 hits, Luchanski and Psota led the way with three apiece while Jenna Flannigan and Kaitlyn Ross had two.

UP NEXT: Canada will face five-time defending world champions Japan tomorrow at 6PM ET as Opening Round action continues…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