The California A’s, with their perfect defensive record, have established themselves as the team to beat at Softball City.
The A’s ran their record to 6-0 (won-lost) at the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship with a 4-0 win over Great Britain Monday, and two more victories – over Indonesia-Jakarta and the St. Louis Extreme Elite – on Tuesday.
California has yet to concede a run and is the lone unbeaten team left in the nine-team Women’s elite tournament.
On Monday at Softball City, A’s pitcher Blaire Luna struck out 10 batters to hand the British team its first loss of the competition.
China-Liaoning remained in second place with a 5-1 record, its only loss a 1-0 setback to the A’s on Sunday.
The White Rock Renegades, meanwhile, have won four consecutive games since they dropped an 8-0 decision to China-Liaoning on opening day, and are in third place in the elite division.
Prior to losing to China-Liaoning, the Renegades opened the tournament Saturday with a 6-1 win over Indonesia – in a contest that was delayed until 10:30 p.m. due to rain during the day.
On Sunday, White Rock won its second game, 7-0 over Team Peru, led by pitcher Sara Hopwood. Hopwood earned her first win of the tourney, striking out seven in five innings, while also going 2-for-3 at the plate, with a double and three runs-batted-in.
Marina Groenewegen, with a triple, and Courtney O’Connor, who was 2-for-2 with a double, also had strong days at the plate.
Monday, the Renegades got a two-run home run from Cloverdale’s Leah Riske to edge Mexico 4-3 in eight innings.
Renegades starting pitcher Kyla Myre scattered three hits over seven and one-third innings, while Cassidy Lee earned the win after retiring the final two Mexican batters.
After reeling off three straight wins, the Renegades were finally tagged with a loss Tuesday, dropping a 7-0 decision to Great Britain, who sat with a 4-1 record heading into Wednesday’s action. White Rock rebounded from the loss later in the day to knock of Team BC – which features a handful of former Renegades – by a 13-7 score.
Play in the Women’s International tournament began Wednesday atat Softball City, with Japan playing New Zealand opening the tournament with an afternoon game.
Canada hit the field for its first game at 7:30 p.m. against New Zealand.
None of the Day 1 games were completed by Peace Arch News press deadlines.
Australia, the United States and Venezuela are the other national teams in the International group. The tournament plays through the weekend, with the championship game slated for Monday night.
– with files from Nick Greenizan
