Whitehorse Daily Star

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

HOT SHOT – Mexican shortstop Enrique Gomez snags a hard liner during his team’s 5-3 win over Canada yesterday at the Junior Men’s World Softball Championship.

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

TAKES A SEAT – Canadian second baseman Tyson Zehr throws to first during Canada's game against Mexico Wednesday afternoon.

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

CLOSER – Mexican pitcher Jaudiel Olaiz came in to shut down Canada's late rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

ARGUING THE CALL – Mexico's coaches challenge a call made by the home plate umpire in the top of the sixth inning against Canada.

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

BREAKOUT GAME – Canadian Francois-Charles Rene gets congratulated after hitting a three-run homer in the first inning against Denmark Wednesday night.

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

COMEDY OF ERRORS – Denmark's third baseman Nicolaj Olsen can't corral an errant throw during Wednesday night's game against Canada, as Tyler Pauli slides in safely.

Loss to Mexico spells curtains for host squad

Canada suffered its third straight loss of the world championships to Mexico yesterday afternoon, effectively ending their bid at a championship run.

By Marcel Vander Wier on July 17, 2014

Canada suffered its third straight loss of the world championships to Mexico yesterday afternoon, effectively ending their bid at a championship run.

A three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh was too little, too late for the hosts. The runs were Canada’s first after being shut out for 14 innings.

The rally needed to come much sooner for Canada to have a chance, head coach Jim Jones said.

“Just not good enough today,” the coach told reporters post-game.

“We needed to build momentum in the first two or three innings. They came out with a home run right off the bat and we needed to answer back. We just didn’t do it.”

Heraldo Borquez hit a solo homer in the first inning to stake Mexico to an early lead, and Daniel Durazo added another bomb in the fourth.

Mexico added three more runs in the sixth, including a fifth run on a controversial play at the plate.

Baserunner Jonathan Cardona was called out by the home plate umpire after Canadian catcher Taylor Schubada appeared to tag him, but the decision was overturned after a discussion with the third base ump.

“This game is about momentum and trying to get it,” Jones said.

“Our catcher made a great play on that play and it’s five feet from home plate. That home plate umpire needs to make that call – not call down 65 feet and ask him if he saw it.

“At the end of the day, you don’t think when the score’s 5-0 that that will ever play into the game, but it did.”

Schubada was sure he had tagged Cardona.

“I definitely touched him if that’s what they’re debating,” the 19-year-old said. “But it comes down to the ump’s call. He sees what he sees, and you just have to move on.

“We’re disappointed,” the Canadian leader added. “We know we’re better than this and to come out in front of a home crowd and have a 2-4 record isn’t what we planned on doing.”

Justin Boyer was the lone Canadian to secure a hit before the seventh-inning rally.

“We’re just struggling to find our sticks,” said the 18-year-old from St. Louis, Sask. “It’s a tough tournament. There’s good pitchers all over the place and they’re really doing a good job of keeping us off the bases.

“It’s kind of disappointing. We were hoping to do better.”

Looking to come back in the bottom of the seventh, centre-fielder Matt Pilon led off with a single, moved up to second on a passed ball and to third on a ground ball to first base.

Boyer then hit a hard line drive that went through the left-fielder’s glove allowing Pilon to score and Boyer to race around the bases to third.

After a flyout for the second out, Boyer scored on a wild pitch and Tyson Zehr dropped a single into centre-field.

Tyler Pauli followed that up with a triple over the center-fielder’s head to score Zehr, but that was as close as Canada would get as Mexico earned the victory.

“We’re probably done from making it into the top four,” said Jones.

“We needed to run the table here today, and if we could’ve beat Japan, we had a chance to be in the top four. We’ll still go out and try to win as many games as we can. That’s what we do.”

Following their loss to Mexico, Canada pummelled Denmark 13-0 in their second match of the day.

Two Quebec players from St-Leonard-d’Ashton led the way.

Outfielder Francois-Charles Rene opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the top of the first and picked up another RBI in a third inning that saw Canada score seven times.

The hosts never looked back en route to a four-inning win.

Marc-Andre Villeneuve, also of St-Leonard-d’Ashton, pitched all four innings for Canada, allowing just four hits while striking out three.

The win pushed Canada’s record to 3-4 at the tournament, tying them for sixth with Mexico.

Be the first to comment

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.