Canada crushes Botswana at women’s softball world championship

ICHIHARA, JAPAN — Canada locked up third place in Group B with a 22-0 win over Botswana on Wednesday at the women’s softball world championship.

The game ended after three innings because of the run rule.

All nine Canadian starters registered hits and drove in runs, while pitcher Karissa Hovinga held Botswana (0-7) to one hit while striking out eight over three innings. Erika Polidori and Jenny Gilbert hit home runs for Canada.

Canada (5-2) scored 15 runs in the bottom of the first and rolled to victory.

Canada’s first playoff game will be Friday.

Meanwhile, Sahvanna Jaquish hit a three-run homer in the third inning to help the United States beat Puerto Rico 8-1 and clinch first place in Group A. Ali Aguilar also connected for a three-run shot in the fourth to make it 7-1 and Michelle Moultrie hit a walk-off RBI single to end the game after five innings on Wednesday.

The U.S. improved to 7-0 in the championship which also doubles as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Puerto Rico dropped to 6-1.

The winner of the tournament will be awarded an Olympic spot. If Japan wins, the second-place finisher will be granted the Olympic spot because Japan has an automatic berth as host.

Softball and baseball were dropped from the Olympic program after the 2008 Beijing Games but have been restored for ’20.