Canfield girls fall again in Junior League World Series

Staff report

kirkland, wash.

After suffering its first loss of the season Monday, the Canfield softball team fell victim once again to hot bats Tuesday night in the Junior League Softball World Series at Everest Park.

Tournament host, Kirkland jumped out to a five-run lead in the first two innings and never looked back defeating Canfield, 9-2. The loss dropped Canfield to 1-2 in its pool, positioning them behind South Tampa (3-0) and Kirkland (3-1).

Canfield committed six errors in the game.

“I think they had a hangover for the first three innings of this game,” Canfield manager Kerry Durkin said. “They’re not accustomed to losing the way they did on Monday, but they fought back.”

Canfield will finsih pool play beginning at 4:45 p.m. today against Iloilo Province, Philippines (1-2), with the winner earning a third-place finish in Pool A. Since the top four teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals Thursday, Canfield is guaranteed at least one more meaningful game after today’s contest.

“I think the girls actually got a little momentum going into [Wednesday’s] game,” Durkin said. “We’re hoping we can get the three seed and take our chances on Thursday.”

Staring at a 5-0 deficit in the middle of the second inning, Durkin said he was pround of his girls for not giving up and giving themselves a chance to get back in the game.

“[Kirkland] came out smoking hot,” he said. “We had a couple errors early and got behind the 8-ball, but the girls showed some heart.”

After giving up one more run in the top of the fifth, Canfield came out swinging in the bottom half of the inning. The locals had the bases loaded with two runs already on the board, but couldn’t cut into the deficit any further.

“We did not play the way we normally play and it just kind of snowballed there on us,” Durkin said. “I have a good feeling about this team, though. They’ll respond.”