A Maple Ridge softball athlete has won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Larissa Franklin and the Canadian women’s softball team edged out Mexico to take the bronze by a score of 3-2. This is the first Olympic medal ever won by a Canadian team for this sport.
A shoutout to Larissa Franklin! On behalf of Mayor Morden, Maple Ridge Council and all of your friends and family in Maple Ridge we offer a huge congratulations on your Bronze Medal performance at the Olympics. You continue to be a Home Town Hero. #teamcanada #mapleridge pic.twitter.com/XYqCiRc8HQ
— City of Maple Ridge (@YourMapleRidge) July 27, 2021
Canada took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Victoria’s Emma Entzminger’s two-out single scored Jenn Salling and Erika Polidori.
Mexico cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning, but Canada nearly extended the lead in the bottom half of the frame but Victoria Hayward was cut down at the plate while trying to score.
In the fifth, with Jenna Caira in the pitcher’s circle, Mexico tied the game after a two-out single scored a runner from third, but Canada pushed back in the bottom of the inning, when Janet Leung – who started the inning with an infield single – scored on a sacrifice fly from Delta’s Kelsey Harshman.
White Rock’s Danielle Lawrie took over from there, retiring the side with relative ease in the sixth – striking out two while allowing one single – and in the seventh, struck out two more to end the game.
READ MORE: Maple Ridge outfielder Larissa Franklin will play for Canada at the Olympics
“What you saw today was character and culture step up when it had to and get the job done,” said Canadian coach Mark Smith. “We got a lead. We gave up that lead. We had an opportunity to score a go-ahead run. They made a great play at the plate. That would have been enough for a lot of teams to pack it in.”
ALSO READ: Maple Ridge outfielder back with Canada for Pan Am Games
Japan defeated the United States in the gold-medal game, successfully defending their Olympic title from 2008.
• With files from The Associated Press and Nick Greenizan, reporter at the Peace Arch News
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