By: Pat Healey

Team Canada had to wait an extra 13 hours, but they got the job done Saturday morning after heavy rains and an electrical storm delayed their opening game at the ISF VII Junior Men's World Championship (19-and-under) at Queen Elizabeth Park's VIV Field in Summerside, Prince Edward Island (Canada).

After Canada took a 2-0 lead Friday night, the rains and thunder & lightning hit the area, resulting in the delay after four innings of play. When play resumed, Mexico rallied for two runs to tie it, 2-2, before Canada used a Ben Tee sacrifice to earn the win, 4-2, in the seventh inning.

Nate Bauman (2-for-3), Tyler Hawes (1-for-2, RBI), and Justin Gill (1-for-2, two runs scored, triple, RBI) led the offense.

Gustavo Benitez (3-for-4, double, RBI), Alonso Melendez (2-for-3, RBI), and Ruben Delgadillo (1-for-4, run scored) led the Mexican squad.

Winning pitcher Tyson Barkman went two plus innings, allowing one hit, walking one, and striking out four. Starter Jordan MacDonald started off shaky before settling down for four and a third innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking one and fanning six.

Losing pitcher Delgadillo went six innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking four and striking out seven. Carlos Lopez pitched an inning of no hit ball in relief.

In what had been the first scheduled game of the day, Australia continued their dominance both offensively and pitching-wise. They used two big early innings and held off a fatigued-looking USA squad, 5-0, and held the Americans to just one hit off Aussie ace pitcher Adam Folkard.

James Brooks (2-for-3, run scored), Josh Jones (1-for-2, run scored, double, RBI), Jon Hudson (1-for-2, double, run scored), Damien Nairn (1-for-3, run scored, double, RBI), and Ashton Edwards (2-for-2, RBI, run scored) led the Aussie charge.

For USA, Kevin Castillo (1-for-3) managed just the one hit, while Australia committed two errors.

Folkard allowed one hit while walking three and fanning a championship-high 17 batters.

Losing pitcher Zach Warne went one inning, allowing five runs on six hits. B.J. Hunhoff went three innings of one hit ball, walking two and striking out one in relief. Kyle Davis pitched two innings in mop-up duty, allowing a walk and a hit.

Australia 's win improves their record to 2-0 in the nine-team, 10-day tournament.

After starting the championship off with 6-3 and 4-2 losses to Australia and Canada respectively, the full extent of Mexico's offensive power came through Saturday afternoon in a 20-2 romp over the inexperienced Team Denmark.

Mexico started the game off with three first inning runs before adding four in the second inning, batting through the lineup twice in inning three and scoring 12 runs, and notching one run in the fourth.

Leading the Mexicans was designated hitter Ruben Delgadillo (4-for-4, three runs scored, double, five RBI), Jesus Barrera (3-for-3, home run, double, three runs scored, three RBI), Paul Alvarez (3-for-4, two runs scored, two doubles, RBI), Gustavo Benitez (2-for-3, two runs scored, two RBI), and Wilfredo Castanos (1-for-3, two runs scored, two RBI, home run).

Denmark managed to score their first two runs of the championship thanks to Niklas Bay (2-for-2, run scored, two RBI, home run, stolen base), Jeppe Bjerre (1-for-2), and Nicolai Bloksted (1-for-1, double, run scored).

Winning pitcher Sergio de la Rosa went two and a third innings, allowing one run on two hits and fanning four. Alberto Garcia went two thirds of an inning, allowing a run on two hits and striking out two. Rembrano Cortez went an inning to finish the game off, walking one and recording two strikeouts.

Losing pitcher Frederik Terkelsen went the distance, allowing 20 runs on 20 hits, walking three and fanning four.

Team Canada did their damage early and then held off a valiant attempt by Argentina, 6-3, to improve to 2-0.

The host team struck for five runs in an offensive outburst in the first off starter Max Montero and scored one more in the top half of the sixth before Argentina mounted a rally late.

It was the same scenario in Canada's earlier games where they built a lead only to have to fight tooth and nail in the late innings to secure the win.

Bobby Sill led the Canadian offense with a three-run home run in the first inning. Mark Lewis (2-for-3, run scored, two RBI, double), Tyler Hawes (2-for-4, RBI, run scored), Ben Tee (2-for-4, run scored), and Mathieu Lessard (1-for-3) led the Canadian attack.

For Argentina, which drops to 0-2 in the nine-team, 10-day championship, German Sacks (1-for-3, two RBI), Federico Eder (1-for-2, run scored), and Montero (1-for-3) was all the offense the team could muster.

Winning pitcher Jonathan Kane went five and a third innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking two and striking out two. Tyson Barkman went one and two thirds innings, allowing two runs on one hit, and striking out one in relief.

Montero went four and two thirds innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, walking four and sitting down two. He was credited with the loss. In relief, Nelson Ruiz Diaz went two and one third innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking one and fanning three.

Portions of this game, as well as the Mexico versus Denmark game, were shown during the three-hour live broadcast of CBC Sports Saturday with host and former CBC Charlottetown host Scott Russell.

To close out the night, New Zealand continued their strong start with a tight 14-8 tiebreaker victory over the Czech Republic.

The Kiwis proved lethal with the bat when it really counted, picking up six runs in the first tiebreaker inning while shutting out the Czech Republic.

Going into the eighth inning the score was deadlocked at 8-8, but batting first in the top of the inning the Kiwis put the pressure on, scoring six runs. When the Czech Republic had their chance in the bottom of the tiebreaker inning the Kiwi side held strong with pitcher Vaero Hagai doing just enough and outfielder Bernard Hale making a couple of good catches to get the crucial outs.

The star for New Zealand with the bat was Tyson Byrne, who picked up two hits in the game. In the sixth inning, Byrne got his team back into the game with a triple with runners on base, and then he got the ball rolling again with another hit in the top of the eighth inning.

Along with Byrne, others to pick up two hits in the game for the Kiwis were Penese Iosefo, Mathew Telfer, and Isaac Fletcher. The Kiwis outhit the Czech Republic by 11-10.

While the Kiwis took the game out the Czech Republic had their chance to win it when, after evening the score in the bottom of the seventh inning, they then had the game-winning runner taken out at home plate.

On the mound for New Zealand, Fletcher started the game before being replaced in the third inning by Aiden Cocker. The youngster went close to pitching the Kiwis to victory until being replaced in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Czech Republic evened up the score. Hagai came into the game in relief in the bottom of the seventh to pitch the game out.

In such a close encounter, New Zealand coach Mark Sorenson used his full squad of 17 during the game. Team management comment after the game was fielding proved the difference, with the Czech Republic team making six defensive errors compared to New Zealand’s one.

(Softball New Zealand also contributed to this report.)

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