Canada beats Taiwan, will face Japan for gold at Women’s Baseball World Cup

GIJANG, Korea, Republic Of — Canada will play for gold at the Women’s Baseball World Cup for only the second time in the history of the women’s national team program.

Righty Amanda Asay, from Prince George, B.C., went the distance, and catcher Jennifer Gilroy cashed in the winning run as Canada downed Taiwan 2-1 on Saturday to book its place in the championship.

“It feels great,” said Asay, who allowed just one earned run and six hits with eight strikeouts through seven innings of work. “I was able to establish my fastball early and then changed speeds a little bit as the game went on.

“My defence played amazing behind me and Jenn (Gilroy) did a really good job behind the plate.”

The Canadian squad will play Japan on Sunday for gold.

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Canada only managed four hits all game and trailed 1-0 after four innings, but a sacrifice fly tied it in the top of the fifth and a fielder’s choice scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.

With the bases loaded Gilroy, from Mississauga, Ont., grounded to short, scoring right-fielder Kelsey Lalor from third as Chih Hsuan Sung went for the force out at third.

Lalor, of Red Deer, Alta., started the rally by leading off the seventh with a single. 

First baseman Kate Psota, from Burlington, Ont., drove in designated hitter Pascale Jalbert of St. Honare, Que., with a sacrifice fly for Canada’s other run.

“When you get great pitching and defence like we did today, it’s usually a good recipe for a win,” said Canadian manager Andre Lachance. “We battled all game and manufactured the runs when we needed to.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our group and they way we’ve played so far.”

Canada has gone 6-1 at the tournament, with its only loss coming against Japan in the opening round.

The gold-medal game will be a rematch of the 2008 championship where Canada fell to Japan and settled for silver. Japan has won every World Cup since then and entered the 2016 event as the four-time defending champions.

“Japan has been the best in the world for quite some time and haven’t lost (here) yet so we know that we’ll have to play our best game of the tournament to beat them,” said Lachance.

“We respect them, but we can play with them. We’ll give them everything we have tomorrow.”

The Canadian Press