Junior Women Lead Canadian Open

The Canadian Junior Women’s National Team kept rolling at the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch Futures Gold (U19) International Championships, winning two more games.

A 12-0 win over Okanagan Elite Gold 94 and an 8-1 win over the Victoria Devils 93. With two more wins on the run-ahead rule, Canada has now outscored its opponents 44-6 in four games.

In the first game against a young Okanagan Elite Gold 94 team, Brigitte Aizprua (Terrebonne, QC) walked and scored on a double to the left field fence by Erika Polidori (Brantford).

Polidori scored on a single by Carey-Leigh Thomas (Oshweken, ON), who would later score on a double steal to give Canada a quick 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning.

Kirsten Grant (Oakville, ON) led off the second with a double and scored on an error, while Victoria Hayward (Toronto, ON) also scored on an error later in the inning.

Team Canada’s offence kept rolling in the third, as Natalie Wideman (Mississauga) and Shelby Lia (Whitby) hit back to back singles and both scored on a two-out, two-run single by Larissa Franklin (Maple Ridge).

Franklin then scored on a double steal, and Hayward crossed the plate on a single by Tessa Loewen (Abbotsford, BC) to give Canada a 9-0 lead.

In the fourth, Shelby Lia blasted a two-run homerun, and Kirsten Grant scored on an RBI triple by Victoria Hayward to round out the scoring as Canada won by a score of 12-0.

n the pitcher’s circle, Jaycee Affeldt (Maple Ridge, BC) was dominant, throwing four innings without allowing a hit, walking one and striking out eight batters.

In game two against the Victoria Devils 93 team, the surprising Devils got off to a good start, managing a walk and two hits as they opened the scoring with one run. Canada responded in the bottom of the frame, when Erika Polidori drove a triple down the first base line to drive in Tessa Loewen who had reached on a fielder’s choice.

Polidori then scored on a double by cleanup hitter Carey-Leigh Thomas.
The bats were silenced for the next two innings for both teams before Canada managed to add another run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI groundout by Shelby Lia.

The red and white kept adding to the lead in the fifth, when Polidori crossed the plate on a single by Thomas, who later scored on a single by Grant. Canada would put the game away in the sixth, scoring two runs on a triple by Thomas and another on an error for the 8-1 win.

Madison Schreyer (Winnipeg, MB) pitched four innings for Canada, allowing a run on three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Natalie Becker (Waterloo) pitched two innings of relief, allowing one hit and a walk.

Thanks to Softball Canada for the press release