By Michael Hayakawa, Yorkregion.com
Andy Skelton almost took matters into his own hands when Team Canada faced Venezuela in the VIII Pan American International Softball Federation championship final in Medellin, Colombia Sunday.
The 25-year-old Stouffville resident tossed a complete game, surrendering just four hits while striking out eight batters.
If that wasn’t enough, Skelton helped his own cause at the plate by collecting two hits, one of which was a towering three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, to propel Canada to a 4-1 victory and its first gold medal since 1993.
For Skelton, who picked up the win, claiming the gold medal and making his debut with the national team was a dream come true.
It also represented the highlight thus far in the right hander’s career on the ball diamond.
“To win one of the biggest tournaments in our game was one of the most amazing feelings,” he said. “Our whole team worked hard to get ready for the tournament all year and really came together when it counted. By the end of our 10 days in Medellin, Colombia it was like playing with family.”
During the tournament, Canada won seven of nine games in the round-robin segment with its only setbacks coming at the hands of Venezuela and Dominican Republic.
After losing to Venezuela again in the first-versus-second playoff game, Canada needed to defeat Argentina to earn another shot at Venezuela.
With Skelton playing second base in the semifinal match, before being pulled in the second inning to warm up in the event he had to pitch, Canada came through in a 2-0 win.
That set the stage for their third encounter against Venezuela for all of the marbles.
Entering the tournament, Skelton was confident Canada could be in the hunt for the gold medals.
“We had two goals going into the tournament; first was to finished in the top five to qualify for the ISF world championship in New Zealand (in February 2013) and the second goal was to win the tournament (Pan American Championships) and we did it.
“Canada always has a strong team in international play and always has the goal of winning the tournament, but has fallen short finishing second in the past few Pan American Championships and third in the last ISF. But our team was determined to win the tournament and we played with our hearts on our sleeves to achieve it.”