Received: 8/13/08 9:27:57 AM From: "Gilles LeBlanc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Canadian_Softball_Team_Powers_Through_at_Olympics_/_L'éq9q : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE August 13, 2008 CanadianSoftball Team Powers Through at Olympics (Beijing,China) The Canadian Womens softball team improved its record to 2-0 at the2008 Olympic Games this morning, earning a 9-2 win over the Netherlands in sixinnings. Danielle Lawrie (Langley, BC) provided four solid innings in thepitchers circle, while Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) and Kaleigh Rafter(Guelph, ON) each blasted a homerun to propel the offence. Dutchstarting pitcher Kristi de Vries made quick work of the Canadians in the firsttwo innings, but the red and white put their bats in line in the third to openthe scoring. With one out, Erin Cumpstone (Saskatoon, SK) hit an infield singlefollowed by a single to left field by Caitlin Lever (Buffalo, New York).Melanie Matthews then hit a shallow fly ball to the left side that wasmisplayed by the shortstop, loading the bases with only one out. After the nextbatter popped out, Jennifer Yee (North Delta, BC) stepped up with a boomingtriple that sailed over the head of the right fielder, clearing the bases andgiving Canada a 3-0 lead. Canadaadded four more runs in the fourth on a pair of two-run homeruns, one byKaleigh Rafter that pushed Megan Timpf (Port Dover, ON) in to score and theother by Matthews who also drove in Lever from first base. TheNetherlands got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth inning, asMarloes Fellinger led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly toright field. After Canada responded with a single run on an RBI single byAlison Bradley (Pinkerton, ON) in the fifth, Sandra Gouverneur hit a solohomerun for the Dutch to cut the lead to 8-2. However, Melanie Matthews drove inRafter from third with a double in the sixth to increase the lead to sevenruns, putting the run-ahead rule in effect. The Netherlands were not able toscore in their half of the sixth, putting an end to the game. Lawriehad a very strong outing for Canada, striking out four batters in four inningsof work. She gave up one run on two hits with no walks. Dione Meier (Saskatoon,SK) pitched two innings of relief, allowing one run on one hit with threestrikeouts. At the plate, Canada managed to produce 11 hits in the win. MelanieMatthews, Kaleigh Rafter, Jennifer Yee and Caitlin Lever all collected twohits, while Megan Timpf, Alison Bradley and Erin Cumpstone each added a single. BoxScore Play-by-play Inother softball action at the Olympics: USA blanked Venezuela 11-0; Chinablasted the Netherlands 10-2; Japan shaded Australia 6-5; China beat Venezuela7-1; USA shut out Australia 3-0; and Japan got by Chinese Taipei 2-1. Canada(2-0) will return to action at midnight tonight (Eastern Time), when they willtake on the powerful Americans (2-0) in a game that can be seen on CBC. Thegame can also be seen without interruption on the CBC website at www.cbc.ca/olympics/livevideowhile live scoring is available at this link. -SC- Formore information, contact: GillesLeBlanc Manager Marketing and Communications Softball Canada (613) 523-3386 x. 3105 gleblanc(at)softball.ca Al's Fastball News *Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/ NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball VIA http://www.webbox.com
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