Canada assured of softball bronze

World tourney hosts advance to face two-time champs from Japan in Sunday’s semifinal showdown

Any worries that Team Canada might make an early exit from the WBSC women’s softball world championships certainly seem foolish now.

The tournament hosts, who seemingly looked to be in harm’s way when they opened up the Round of 16 with a 6-1 loss to Venezuela last Monday, won their fifth in a row at the event on Saturday night, beating the Netherlands 9-2 in a mercy-ruled five innings before a crowd of over 3,500 at Softball City.

The victory assured the Canadians of at least a bronze medal, marking their best finish since the 2010 worlds in Venezuela. They came in fourth in 2014 in the Netherlands.

Saturday’s win also propelled Canada into Sunday’s 1 p.m. semifinal against two-time reigning champion Japan, and a victory there would advance coach Mark Smith’s crew to the final for the first time since 1978, when Canada lost 4-0 to the U.S.

Canada has never won a women’s worlds. The Americans beat Japan 4-3 on Saturday and will face the winner of the Canada-Japan game at 6 p.m. with the title on the line.

Canada took a 1-0 lead in the first, when Victoria Hayward, who had led off with an infield single up the middle, scored on a wild pitch with two outs. The host squad stretched the margin to 4-0 in the second inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Kaleigh Rafter laced a double into the left field alley. Three runs scored, the last when Netherlands catcher Karin Tuk dropped a relay throw home.

The visitors got on the board in the third inning on a two-run home to right field by Britt Vonk. Vonk has been one of the best players at this event; she’s hitting .720 (18-for-25), with three homers and 12 RBI.

Canada blew the game open with a four-run fourth, highlighted by a three-run home run to centre by Jenn Salling. It was the fourth long ball of the nine-game tournament so far for the shortstop from Port Coquitlam, to go with 17 RBI. She’s hitting .375 (9-for-24).

Canada beat Mexico 5-0 earlier Saturday, despite the fact that Smith had botched the line-up card, forgetting to write in centre-fielder Larissa Franklin.

That meant that Joey Lye, who was supposed to play second, moved to centre field, while designated player Jen Yee switched to second base and starting pitcher Sara Groenewegen had to hit.