SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Four teams remain undefeated in the IX Women’s Pan American Softball Championship in Santo Domingo. In the Pool A, USA and Venezuela lead the standings, while in Pool B Canada and Cuba are the leaders.
Venezuela beat Puerto Rico by 1-0 in an intense pitching duel. For Venezuela Desiree Ibarra threw the shut-out with 4 hits, while Puerto Rico’s Aleshia Ocasio and Taran Alvelo only allowed 3 combined hits. In the top of the third Puerto Rico loaded the bases. Korina Rosario and Quiana Diaz walked, and Elicia D’Orazio singled; however Ibarra struck out Ocasio to escape the jam. In the bottom of this inning Venezuela scored the only run of the game. Yaicey Sojo walked, advanced to second with a sacrifice bunt and scored with an RBI single by Milagros Lozada to center field. It was all Ibarra needed to claim a very important victory thinking on the playoff run. Venezuela is still unbeaten with three wins, and Puerto Rico sums two wins and one loss.
Another unbeaten team is Canada. The red and white squad sent 11 batters to the box in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead against Brazil. In the top of the fourth, Kaleigh Rafter hit an RBI single, and Careigh Lee Thomas hit a 3-run shot to center field to increase the lead to 9-0. Sara Plourde tossed a two-hit shut-out to earn the win in five innings. Canada improved their record to 4-0, at the top of the Pool B.
In the final game of the day, USA defeated host Dominican Republic by 7-0 in five innings of play. Delaney Spaulding hit an RBI triple in the third, and Amanda Chidester hit a two-run homer in the top of the fourth to lead the US offense. Jessica Moore won the game with four innings of work, with a one inning relief by Kelly Barnhill.
Argentina defeated Bahamas 12-2 in four innings, earning their third win of the tournament. The Argentinean team took the lead early in the game to win with authority. With this result, Argentina is 3-2 in the tournament, while Bahamas have a 1-3 record.
In the other games of the day, Mexico knocked out Panama by 12-1; Curacao defeated Aruba 8-1; Colombia won against El Salvador by 5-3; Cuba beat Guatemala by 8-0; who after that defeated British Virgin Islands by 10-1; and Cuba beat Brazil by 9-0.
The schedule for tomorrow is as follow:
8:30
ARG – CAN
ARU – ESA
11:00
MEX – CUB
CUR – PER
14:00
VEN – USA
GUA – PAN
16:00
COL – PUR
BVI – BAH
18:30
PUR – DOM
PAN – BVI
21:00
DOM – COL
ESA – CUR
