By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

VIERA, Florida – Anne Sophie Lavallée (Bouchervillle, Que.) tossed a five-inning no-hitter to lead Canada to an opening game, 4-0, win over Hong Kong at the WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup in a game that was a delayed and eventually declared official after five innings due to lightning.

Lavallée struck out four and walked four but benefitted from a pair of double plays by her defence and came up with some key strikeouts to keep Hong Kong of the scoreboard.

“I had fun out there today,” said Lavallée. “It was exciting getting the start for the first game of the tournament and to come out with a win like this for our team is a good feeling.”

It didn’t take long for Canada’s offence to get rolling in the bottom of the first as three consecutive one out singles loaded the bases before Jenna Flannigan (Cornwall, Ont.) walked to bring in the first run of the ballgame. 

Canada added two runs in the second on RBI from Emma March (Vancouver, BC) and a run-scoring single off the bat of Nicole Luchanski (Edmonton, Alta.) before Flannigan scored on an error in the fourth to make it 4-0.

The teams were pulled off the field in the fifth inning with lightning in the area and after a delay lasting over one hour tournament officials called the game awarding the victory to Canada.

“It’s always nice to win the opening game at an event like this,” stated Canadian Manager André Lachance. “There’s always a big build-up towards the start of the tournament and your opening game so it’s nice to come out on top and now be able to focus our attention on our remaining opponents."

UP NEXT: Canada will face Cuba on Thursday at 2PM 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