Ezekiel helps Canada edge Venezuela 3-2 in Men’s Softball World Cup thriller
World No. 3 Canada were quick out of the blocks with Shane Boland, Bradley Ezekiel and Mathieu Roy all scoring in the bottom of the first inning to lead the four-time champions to a 3-2 victory over Venezuela on Saturday at the XVII WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup in Rosedale Park.
The first inning heroics provided enough of a lead for pitchers Sean Cleary and Joseph Schofield to keep Venezuelan batters in check throughout the game, although the South Americans did claw two back in the third.
Ezekiel's single to right centre, brough Shane Boland, who was on second base, to get home.
Quinten Bruce and Bryan Abrey both hit singles that blew the game wide open with two more runs by Roy and Ezekiel, respectively.
In the third inning, Venezuela’s Edinson Marrero and Carlos Villegas were both walked before a pitching change and the subsequent pitcher's mound repair allowed them to ponder their next move to counter their opponents.
After Jorge Lima struck out swinging, Rafael Flores singled through left field to give way to Marrero to score, while Carlos Villegas moved to second base before scoring Venezuela’s second run off Erwin Diaz’s single up the middle.
Canada managed to stop the Venezuelan momentum when Cleary struck out Engelbert Herrera. The Canadian starting pitcher was relieved by Schofield after the fourth inning, then silenced the Venezuelan side to secure the win.
Quotes - Canada Coach John Stuart
That was a very tough game and one that you want to get out of the way. It is good having a tough game to begin the tournament and get right in to it. Venezuela are a scrappy team and they didn’t give up and right at the last inning they had a chance to tie it up with a runner on second. It was a good win and we fought hard. It was a nice victory.
I was really happy with our pitchers, particularly Justin Schofield coming in for the fifth inning and he really shut them down. We had some really good at-bats, three double-plays – we didn’t stroke out much but we did put the ball in play a lot. That is one of our goals to put the ball in play a lot.
It is a matter of process going forward, getting good swings and making sure we are getting good at-bats and not striking out a lot. We have to improve our defence a little bit – the thing for us is getting the ball in play more – that’s a key.
Canada Pitcher Justin Schofield
I enjoy this role coming in as a finisher. You feel like the whole team is on your back, you feel the pressure is really on – that’s your job to close the door. It is something I relish and look forward to. Anybody pitching at this level loves that situation. For me I enjoy it.
You have to keep thing loose earlier in the game – you can’t be thinking about it or the pressure will get to be too much. Then you have to flick the switch when it is time to go – go in for your 30 or 40 minutes and do your job.
Our mentality is that you have 15 behind you all the time.
We have four strong pitchers. We all bring something different. In today’s game, the hitters are so good, the prep is so good. Very few pitchers here can go three or four times through the order – so having a four-man pitching staff is incredible. We have a lot of different looks we can throw at you, different styles and we can make it that you don’t see the same pitcher twice.
Venezuela Second Base - Jorge Lima
It was a tough game and we fought back very well. Of course, it is difficult when you are three runs down so early in the game. But from that point we fought very hard and we had a chance right at the end.
We will never give up. We need to now not make the mistakes early in the game and give ourselves more chances.
It was not so bad and we will come back stronger tomorrow.
