U.S. beats Canada for women’s baseball gold at Pan Am Games

The US blew the game open in the fifth inning, loading the bases and with two out, Anna Kimbrell hit a deep ball to centre field off reliever Jessica Berube that cleared the bases, turning a two run 5-3 nail-biter into a comfortable 8-3 lead.

Canada couldn’t close out the Pan Am Games with another gold medal.

Groenewegen called it the team’s best game of the year and it came in front of a loud, partisan crowd. And the squad hopes it did something more for their sport after the event’s first Pan Ams appearance.

After Canada’s upset of the Americans in the Pan Am final on Sunday, U.S. coach Ken Eriksen said he felt his team was unlucky.

The baseball women couldn’t recover from one inning – a three-run fourth – and couldn’t solve American starter Marti Sementelli en route to a 3-1 setback. After the victory, the players doused Pollard with ice water.

Michelle Snyder had two runs batted in and Samantha Cobb and Jenna Marston added an RBI apiece. “Just getting out here and putting us on the map and letting everyone know that girls can play baseball and they can play it well”. We hit it at them, so it’s kind of tough to do things. The native of Repentigny, Que., couldn’t get out of the first inning as the U.S.’s first four batters reached base and Canada fell behind early. But Sementelli coaxed Brandi Wall into a comebacker to the mound, then turned a home to first double play to cut a run off at the plate.

In the end, the Americans were victorious.

“We are the best in the world and we showed that today”, Hudek said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. women got the job done in baseball.

US starting pitcher Sarah Hudek had an eventful first inning.

The women’s softball final had been a rather turgid affair, with both pitchers dominating as no runs were scored throughout seven-innings of regulation play.

Third baseman Ashley Stephenson, a teacher at Frank Hayden high school in Burlington, said every player on the Canadian team would love to play baseball full time. That’s the game of baseball. “Don’t be told that you can’t”. “This is a big step for women’s baseball, showing we can be just as good as any guys’ team out there”. “It’s a wonderful feeling, just being in there and cheering on your teammates”.