{"id":45475,"date":"2025-07-04T06:10:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=45475"},"modified":"2025-07-04T06:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:31:28","slug":"4-nations-cup-opens-with-thrilling-drama-in-saskatoon-on-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=45475","title":{"rendered":"4 Nations Cup Opens With Thrilling Drama in Saskatoon on Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 4 Nations Cup burst into action Thursday night in Saskatoon, Canada, delivering opening night excitement with towering home runs and walk-off heroics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Canada Powers Past Japan 3-1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The host nation made an early statement, defeating Japan behind <strong>Quentin Bruce<\/strong>&#8216;s spectacular third-inning blast. The 29-year-old outfielder&#8217;s three-run homer was a monstrous shot to center field that cleared both fences, providing all the offense Canada would need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Devon McCullough<\/strong> earned the victory on the mound, with <strong>Justin Schofield<\/strong> pitching in relief. The Canadian duo held Japan to just one hit in a dominant performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">The Men&#39;s National Team takes their first WIN over Japan last night at the 4 Nations Cup! ?<br><br>L&#39;\u00e9quipe nationale masculine a remport\u00e9 sa premi\u00e8re victoire sur le Japon hier soir lors de la Coupe des 4 Nations ! ?<br><br>?: Gordie Howe Sports Complex<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/softballcanada?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#softballcanada<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/teamcanada?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#teamcanada<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qg2HGVllhM\">pic.twitter.com\/qg2HGVllhM<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Softball Canada (@SoftballCanada) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SoftballCanada\/status\/1941116709882220689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Zealand Stages Dramatic Comeback Over USA 4-3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The nightcap belonged to pure drama as New Zealand overcame a 3-0 deficit to stun the United States in walk-off fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Americans built their lead behind strong pitching from <strong>Marco Diaz <\/strong>(three scoreless innings) and <strong>Cody Gibbons<\/strong> (two more). But New Zealand&#8217;s <strong>Thomas Enoka<\/strong> had other plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enoka sparked the comeback with a two-run double in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 3-2.  In the seventh, needing a home run to complete the cycle, he instead delivered his fourth hit of the game\u2014a two-run walk-off winner, finishing the night with 4 hits in 4 at bats and 4 RBI. Not a bad opening act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On opening night, Canada showed they can combine power hitting with quality pitching at home, while New Zealand demonstrated championship-level resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The four teams in the event swap opponents on Day 2 (Night 2). The two 0-1 teams, Japan and the USA, square off in the 6pm opener, while last night&#8217;s winners\u2014Canada and New Zealand\u2014clash in the 8pm nightcap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once again, games will be streamed live on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@softballpremiertv\/streams\">Softball Premier TV<\/a><\/strong>. The 4 Nations Cup continues with more international softball drama ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 4 Nations Cup burst into action Thursday night in Saskatoon, Canada, delivering opening night excitement with towering home runs and walk-off heroics. Canada Powers Past Japan 3-1 The host nation made an early statement, defeating Japan behind Quentin Bruce&#8216;s spectacular third-inning blast. The 29-year-old outfielder&#8217;s three-run homer was a monstrous shot to center field [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,28,23,61,82],"tags":[1617,1620,560,193,465,734,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-45475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-broadcasts","7":"category-canada","8":"category-featured","9":"category-tournaments","10":"category-usa-softball","11":"category-wbsc","12":"tag-4nationscup","13":"tag-4nationscup2025","14":"tag-saskatoonfastball","15":"tag-softballcanada","16":"tag-softballnz","17":"tag-usamnt","18":"tag-usasoftball","19":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45475"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45481,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45475\/revisions\/45481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}