Canada recovers from early deficit, tops Italy

Canada recovered from an early 4-0 early and scored 10 unanswered runs to collect their first win at The World Games, with a 10-4 win over Italy in game 6 of the softball competition. Nicola Simpson starred in relief for Canada, silencing Italy’s offense for 5.1 innings.

Italy started strong with a pair of home runs in the top of the first inning. Olympians Laura Vigna and Giulia Longhi both left the yard to give the European champions a 3-0 lead. In the second inning, Vigna produced one more run with a single on the left field line to plate Fabrizia Marrone.

With two out in the top of the second, Simpson replaced Ruby Anderson on the pitching rubber, and was stellar for the rest of the game, giving up only 2 hits with no runs or walks. She struck out four.

Canada recovered with 2-RBI performances by Victoria Hayward, Kelsey Harshman and Alysen Febrey. Hayward went 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs.

Canada evens their record (1-1) and tomorrow will close the group stage against USA at 7 p.m. Italy drops their first match (0-1), and will play later today their postponed meeting against USA.