The youth divisions were centre stage in the first four days of the Scotiabank Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship, but international competition will highlight the rest of the week.
And judging by the results of the US World Cup of Softball which concluded Sunday in Oklahoma, the six-team Women’s International tournament at Softball City is wide open.
Japan defeated the United States 6-3 to win the World Cup title, a game that was a rematch of last year’s Canadian Open final, also won by Japan by a 9-6 score. Australia edged Canada 4-3 in extra innings in the third-place game.
Japan, Canada and the U.S.A. were tied for first place after round robin play, each with a 3-1 (won-lost) record. Australia was fourth at 1-3, with Puerto Rico in the basement at 0-4.
The top four teams from Oklahoma will be in Surrey today for the first games of the Women’s international division at the Canadian Open. Japan opens against Venezuela at 3:30 p.m., followed by Canada taking on the California A’s at 6:30 p.m. Games at 8:30 p.m. include Australia against Venezuela and the A’s playing the U.S.A.
– The Quebec Rebelles have the early lead in the four-team Women’s Elite group.
They erased an early 2-0 deficit to edge the Northwest Lady Sharks 3-2 in eight innings in the first game of the competition Saturday. They then unleashed an 18-hit attack to thump Team BC 10-3 in six innings Sunday.
Team BC and the White Rock Renegades are tied for second, each with a win and a loss.
– The Futures (18-and-under) and Showcase (16-and-under) Select tournaments concluded yesterday with championship games, after The Leader press deadline.
American teams claimed the top three seeds for the Futures Selects playoff round.
The Spokane Diamonds, Edmonds Stars and Oregon Fastpitch were the three group winners after round robin play, each with four wins in as many games. Spokane allowed just one run to take the top-seed. Edmonds was scored on just four times and was seeded second, while Oregon surrendered five runs and earned the third seed.
Two teams from the Surrey Storm rep program earned the top two seeds for the Showcase Select playoff, each with four wins in four round robin games.
