Hosts remain only unbeaten team at the world championships; will face India today

Team Canada continued its dominating run at the 2017 Men’s World Softball Championship with a 7-0 win over the Dominican Republic Wednesday night.

“We take it one game at a time, but winning every game is also key,” said Canada’s Shane Boland. “We just keep rolling and just keep winning if we can.”

The win moves Canada to 6-0 in pool play, while the Dominican drops to 3-3.

Canada has already clinched the top spot in pool B and secured their spot in the championship round, but one more win against India this afternoon will cement their undefeated pool play record.

Canada started the game strong, with Brandon Horn hitting a single and moving to third off two passed balls. Bradley Ezekiel then hit a RBI single up the middle.

Dominican Republic’s starting pitcher, Santiago Paulino walked a run in and was replaced by Luiyi Mena.

After Mena came to the mound, Shane Boland hit a grand slam to bring the Canadians up 6-0.

“Bases loaded, you don’t want to swing at a bad pitch,” said Boland.

“Just waiting for the right pitch and trying to to get the ball over the plate and do some damage.”

In the seventh, Boland hit a lead-off double and was able to run to home off an Andrew Skelton hit. That run made it 7-0, ending the game on the run-ahead rule.

Dominican Republic staff member Francisco Perez was displeased with his team’s pitching.

“We’re having problem all the time in every game with too many walks. You can’t recover from that,” he said. “You’re throwing a lot of balls and you pay the price.”

Perez said he was saving his top pitcher, Yennier Perez, for tonight’s do-or-die game against Argentina.

The Dominican Republic is currently in fifth place in pool A and must win tonight’s game to advance to the championship round.

The Canadians, meanwhile, remained focused and upbeat.

“Our energy is always up. We try to stay positive,” said Boland. “When you get up by a few runs, teams tend to get a little low key, but our bench is always up, our players are always up.”

When he hit his grand slam, his teammates drained out of the dugout and celebrated the 6-0 lead early in the game.

The Canadians face India at 3 p.m. this afternoon, while the Dominican Republic faces Argentina at 7 p.m.

Men’s World Softball Championship current standings

As of press time today

Pool A

1 Canada 6 - 0
2 Argentina 4 - 2
2 Australia 4 - 2
2 United States 4 - 2
5 Dominican Republic 3 - 3
6 South Africa 2 - 4
7 Hong Kong 1 - 5
8 India 0 - 6

Pool B

1 Japan 5 - 1
1 New Zealand 5 - 1
1 Venezuela 5 - 1
4 Botswana 3 - 3
4 Denamark 3 - 3
6 Czech Republic 2 - 4
7 Great Britain 1 - 5
8 Turkey 0 - 6