Canada earns bronze medal, Japan advances to final

By Gary Kingston

It was an off day by a weary-armed pitching staff for a Canadian team ranked No. 4 in the world of women’s softball.

But despite an 11-1 dusting by two-time reigning world champion Japan on Sunday afternoon in a World Championship semifinal, Canada still matched its best ever finish in the national team era by earning the bronze medal at Softball City.

“We’ve now demonstrated very clearly over the last eight years that we’re among the top four countries in the world and have moved a step closer to the (gold medal) game,” said head coach Mark Smith.

“With the youth of our kids, the way they’re playing the game and the experience they’re gaining, it’s all good news.”

It will be if Canada can maintain the momentum through qualifying for the expected return of women’s softball to the Olympic program in 2020.

The bronze medal for Canada, which beat the U.S. for Pan Am gold in Toronto last summer, matched the medal won at the 2010 worlds in Venezuela. The Canadians were fourth at both Whitehorse in 2012 and the Netherlands in 2014.

On a sun-drenched afternoon at Softball City, 4,500 fans crowded into the main diamond with high hopes of seeing Canada advance to the evening final.

But Japan slammed four home runs, including back-to-back dingers off Lauren Bay Regula, the third of four Canadian pitchers, and played typically flawless defence to set up a sixth consecutive world championship gold medal match with the U.S. (6 p.m.)

Canada had won five straight games at the 30-country tournament at Softball City after a 6-1 loss to Venezuela to open the championship round robin, including big wins over China and the Netherlands. But they were clearly second-best on a day when Japanese pitcher Yamato Fujita looked hittable.

“We just ran out of pitching,” said Canadian head coach Mark Smith, whose starter Sara Groenewegen was rocked by a two-run home run by Eri Yamada, the third hitter in the bottom of the first. “Wagon’s tank was empty.”

Groenewegen, the Surrey product who has starred for three seasons at the University of Minnesota, threw a seven-inning complete game in a 5-0 win over Mexico on Saturday, then tossed another inning later that day in relief of Bay Regula, 35, in a 9-2 win over the Netherlands.

Against Japan, Groenewegen’s rise ball and screwball “didn’t have the jump that it had, the changeup wasn’t quite biting like it needed to,” said Smith. “Against lesser teams you can get away with that, but not against the Japanese.”

“We knew with Lauren we were going to get three or four quality innings out of her per outing. And then (Karissa) Hovinga (Canada’s third best pitcher) had to leave to go to the wedding (in Nebraska) on Friday. We spent a lot of pitches to get to this point.

“And everybody knows how good (Japan) are. They capitalize on your mistakes.”

Japan scored three in the first, three more in the second off Sara Plourde and three more in the third off Bay Regula. Rarely used Kyla Benz allowed the final two runs in the fourth, including a massive solo home run to right field by Yu Yamamoto.

Groenewegen admitted she’d had a long week of pitching, but “we didn’t score more than one run. Saying that our pitching wasn’t good enough is just an excuse.

“We can play way better play. Japan came to play and we didn’t.”

Canada did get four hits and walked twice, but couldn’t get key hits with runners on base. The lone run came in the second inning when Jen Yee, who had opened the frame with a single to right, eventually scored from third base on a passed ball.

“You obviously don’t want to have your last game at world championships be like that,” said veteran shortstop Jenn Salling. “We had some hits, had plenty of runners on base. The hitting was never really a problem.

“Our pitchers threw so well for us all week, between Lauren and Wagon. At some point you run out of gas a little bit. Like (Bay Regula) hasn’t thrown in eight years and she threw everyday here the last three days.”

Despite the disappointment, Salling said it was important to note how well Canada had played all summer and the progress made. The Port Coquitlam native will be 33 in 2020 when softball looks like it will rejoin the Olympic program and says she’d like to still be part of the program.

“If it all fits in my life with my career now, wanting to be a coach at a very high level . . . I absolutely want to do it for sure.”