TORONTO 2015 Softball Pan American Softball Confederation Daily Newsletter July 19, 2015
Gold for Canada
Toronto, July 19, 2015. Canada defeated Venezuela this afternoon by 2-1 in the final game of the Men’s competition of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, and thus kept the gold medal in this competition. The silver was for Venezuela who beat Argentina earlier, by a score of 2-0. The crowd present in the President’s Choice Ajax Pan Am Ballpark witnessed a great pitching duel between Sean Cleary and Erick Urbanski. Both pitchers took over the game in the first five innings, shutting out their rivals, reducing them to a handful of hits. In the first inning Venezuela put its first batter in
circulation, with a walk to Yeider Chirinos. The shortstop moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a fly to right, and when Jorge Lima was hitting there was a confusing play at home, ending with Chirinos out in the play, and ejected for the protest with the umpires. The pitch appeared to hit the batter, so Chirinos moved slowly, almost walking to home plate, with the idea that the ball was dead. However, the umpires did not see it that way; Canadian catcher picked up the ball, touched Chirinos, and ended the inning. The Venezuelan made an angry protest and threw his helmet to the ground, which earned him the ejection from the game.
Toronto 2015 Pan American Games
CONPASA Softball
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What you need to know M edals GOLD: CANADÁ
In the third inning Iran Paez hit the first hit of the game, a single to center, and moved to third with one out, thanks to an error by the catcher and a pass ball, but failed to score. Cleary struck out Kerlis Rivero and Tulio Linares lined out to shortstop, keeping the tie on the scoreboard.
BRONZE: ARGENTINA
Urbaneja and Cleary continued in control of the game, each with its own methods. The Canadian with its speed and location; the Venezuelan with its curves and speed changes.
Yesterday’s
However, in the bottom of the sixth came the decisive play of the game, giving the home team the gold medal at these Games. Brad Ezekiel found Mathieu Roy on base (he walked early), and with one swing disappeared the ball from the park, producing the only two runs of the match for their team. Venezuela tried the comeback in the top of the seventh inning, but his effort fell short. Rafael Flores singled, and moved to second on a rolling by John Zambrano to first baseman. Then Edwin Linares singled, producing the only run of the game for Venezuela. But Cleary struck out Pedro Gonzalez, for the enjoyment of the Canadian public, who greeted his players, who in less than a month, won the World Championship and the gold medal at the Pan American Games. Thus, Canada continues its historical domination in this competition, as the red and white team has won all the eight editions of the Pan American Games in the Men’s competition. For its part, Venezuela took silver, the first medal in its history, while Argentina repeated the bronze medal obtained in Santo Domingo 2003, the latest edition of Men’s Softball Pan American Games.
Argentina in third place Venezuela beat Argentina earlier yesterday by 2-0, and thus left the blue and white team in third place in the podium. A
SILVER: VENEZUELA
scores
Venezuela 2 - 0 Argentina WP: Ramon Jones LP: Román Godoy
Venezuela 1 - 2 Canadá WP: Sean Cleary LP: Erick Urbaneja
Games Schedules Womens 14.00 hs. - CUB vs DOM 16.30 hs. - BRA vs CAN 19.00 hs. - USA vs PUR
Toronto 2015 Pan American Games
great performance by Ramon Jones to shut out the rivals and clinch the victory. Venezuela scored its two runs in the top of the fourth inning, with two outs, Jorge Lima hit hard to the shortstop, and Gustavo Godoy could not control the ball; and Rafael Flores drove him in with a double to center, producing the first run of the game. The catcher scored soon after, thanks to John Zambrano infield hit, which allowed the Venezuelan team tp score the second and final run of the game. In the seventh inning, with one out, Edwin Linares reached on an error, and that was it for Roman Godoy, who threw 6.1 innings in good level, allowing 4 hits, 2 runs and 1 base on balls. The right-hander struck a dozen Venezuelan hitters. Juan Potolicchio entered in relief, toe retire the two batters he faced. The Argentine team could not find ways to score against the Jones, and neither could take advantage of the unique opportunity they had score in the game. In the seventh inning Argentina hit two of
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CONPASA Softball
his three hits of the game, putting in doubt the Venezuelan victory. Juan Zara singled to right, and Bruno Motroni reached first with an infield hit, leaving runners in the corners with two outs. However, Jones forced Gustavo Godoy hit to the infield to finish the game. On the Venezuelan side, Ramon Jones was brilliant, shutting out Argentina in seven periods, with 3 hits and 7 strikeouts, without giving away walks. Thus, Argentina ended its participation in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, climbing on the third step of the podium. This result repeats the bronze medal in Santo Domingo 2003, the latest Men’s Softball participation in the Pan American Games. On the side of Venezuela, they qualified with this result qualified for the final, which then lost to Canada.