Venezuela rebounded from an opening round loss to the USA Tuesday, with a convincing five-inning run rule victory over Canada. They did so on the strength of two four run innings. Venezuela took a 4-0 lead in the top of the second on four consecutive singles, combined with an error and a walk. The hits came from M. Guiterrez, S. Hassell, J. Pereira, and J. Morales.
Venezuela added four more runs in the fourth inning, on two consecutive errors, followed by a single, then a third error in the inning. Canadian reliever Sharl. Leclerc quieted the Venezuela bats with a pair of strikeouts, but a two run triple by M. Lagarde drove home two more runs. Lagarde also doubled in the game, drove home two and scored a run.
Canada committed six errors on the night.
Canada scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by D. Scott, but three consecutive strikeouts ended the scoring for Team Canada, who needed one more run to escape the run rule.
C. Pinto went the distance for Venezuela and the win, surrendering just three hits and striking out 7.
Three pitchers shared the duties for Team Canada, with Nick Neid starting, and taking the loss, surrendering 6 hits in 2.1 innings and four runs, though only two were earned. The other six runs scored by Venezuela were unearned.
The tournament is a qualifier for the WBSC U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup, set to take place in Hermosillo, Mexico, from 11 to 19 November.