Canadians top Dutch at softball worlds

Larissa Franklin belted two home runs as Canada opened the playoffs with an 8-1 win over the Netherlands on Friday at the women’s world softball championship in Makuhari, Japan. With the win, Canada improved to 6-2 and eliminated the Netherlands in the process. The game ended after five innings because of the run rule. Canada moves on to play Puerto Rico in the next play- off game. Meanwhile, Monica Abbott had 18 strikeouts and the United States defeated Australia 3-1 on Friday. The U.S. will next face Beijing gold medallist Japan in the tournament, which also doubles as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Japan beat Puerto Rico 7-0.