USA, Canada, Venezuela and Mexico with double life in the playoffs at Pan American Women’s Softball Championship

Post date: Aug 18, 2017 9:0:40 PM

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The first two positions of each group are set. USA and Canada clinched today the top spot in the Pools A and B, and will face Mexico and Venezuela respectively in the playoffs.

Canada claimed first place in Pool B with a superb performance by Jenna Caira, who pitched a six-inning perfect game against Cuba. However, the day for Canada started early in the morning, beating British Virgin Islands by 11-0 in the first game of the day. In the afternoon, the Canadian team faced Cuba and got the win by 8-0, with the perfect game of their pitcher.

Canada attacked their opponent consistently, scoring runs all along the game; while Caria pitched all over the corners and kept out of balance their opponents with her change up, recording out after out. The right hander struck out 6 of the 18 batters faced in the game.

With these results, Canada secured the first place in the Pool B, and will be playing against the second seed of the Pool A on Friday, at 18:30.

In the other hand, USA defeated Aruba in their first game of the day by 16-1, and after that beat Puerto Rico by 4-1. USA was dominant against Aruba and won the game without complications.

But in the second match they had to work a little more, since Puerto Rico played a good game. US team started hot with the bats, batting four consecutive hits to open the game, and scored two runs, with an RBI single by Amanda Chidester and a sac fly to left by Valerie Arioto.

The third run of the game was scored by Aubree Munro taking advantage of an error by the Puerto Rican defense, after hitting a double to center field. The only run for Puerto Rico was scored in the fourth inning by Korina Rosario, with an RBI single by Aleimalee Lopez as a pinch hitter.

However, USA scored again an inning later with a sacrifice fly by Kelsey Stewart to plate Munro, scoring the last run of the game.

After these results, USA remains undefeated and clinched the first place in Pool A. On Friday they will be playing against Mexico at 16:00, who secured the second place in Pool B with their win against Brazil, by 9-1.

Host team also played twice today. In the first game, they had to work hard against El Salvador to get the victory by 2-0. The two runs of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning with a single by Rosaury Perez to right field, with the bases loaded. The winner was Geovanny Nuñez with a seven inning shutout, allowing only two hits.

But in the second game, they lost against Venezuela by 5-0. This way, the South Americans clinched the second place in Pool A, and will face Canada on Friday. Yuruby Alicart produced the first two runs of the game, with a hit to right field. Felinais Reyes hit an RBI single in the fourth to open the gap to 3-0, while the last two runs were produced by Denisse Fuenmayor with a two-RBI single to right field. Desiree Ibara was the winner, with 13 Ks.

In the other results of the day, Curacao beat El Salvador by 5-4; Colombia over Peru by 4-3; Venezuela defeated Aruba by 5-0; Argentina won against British Virgin Islands by 16-1; Mexico over Bahamas 7-0.

Tomorrow will decided the last invited teams to the playoffs. In Pool A Puerto Rico will play against Peru and Aruba, trying to finish in third place. Besides, the Dominican Republic and Curacao will face with the fourth place at stake. In the other Pool, Argentina, Cuba and Brazil will compete for the last two spots in the playoffs. Argentina needs to win against Cuba by a seven run margin to make the playoffs.