A pair of heartbreaking one-run losses at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics has put the gold medal out of reach for Canada鈥檚 women鈥檚 softball team, but the squad 鈥� which has plenty of Surrey and White Rock connections 鈥� still has a shot at the podium tonight.
At 9 p.m. tonight (Pacific time), Canada will hit the field against Mexico in the bronze-medal game. The two teams have already faced each other once, with Canada winning 4-0 to open the tournament.
Team Canada 鈥� which features former White Rock Renegades Sara Groenewegen, Danielle Lawrie, Larissa Franklin and Lauren Regula, as well as Delta鈥檚 Kelsey Harshman 鈥� was ousted from gold-medal contention after back-to-back losses to the world鈥檚 top two teams: a 1-0 loss to the United States, and a 1-0 extra-inning loss to Japan on the weekend.
After round-robin action, the top two teams 鈥� which ended up being the undefeated Americans and Japan 鈥� play for gold, while the third and fourth teams play for bronze.
Canada secured its third-place finish with a decisive 8-1 win over Italy Sunday; the Canadians finished with a won-loss record of 3-2.
Against Japan, Groenewegen started the game in the pitchers鈥� circle, striking out two and allowing just three hits over three innings of work, before she was relieved by Lawrie, who pitched the next three innings, and Jenna Caira, who pitched the final frame.
After the game, Groenewegen, like many of her teammates, was in tears as she attempted to conduct interviews in the mixed zone.
鈥淪orry, I鈥檓 crying,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is a phenomenal group of women.鈥�
Japan scored the game鈥檚 only run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
鈥淲e knew that it was going to be a one-run game, and we knew that it might come down to late innings,鈥� Canadian head coach Mark Smith said. 鈥淲e had a couple of opportunities to push runs across ourselves and couldn鈥檛 get it done. They finally made good on one.鈥�
Now, the Canadians will dust themselves off and play for bronze. A win would give Canada its first-ever Olympic medal in softball.
鈥淲e came here believing we could go home a gold medallist. All of our focus over the last two years has been on that,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e sacrificed in their lives incredibly to put themselves in this position.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough pill, but at the same time, we鈥檙e too good a team not to go home with a medal.鈥�
鈥� with files from The Canadian Press
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