Â
ORIGINAL STORY by Telegram Sports
Stephen Mullaley continued delivering the hits and Sean Cleary kept on producing strikeouts as Canada improved to 3-0 at the Pan Am men’s softball competition by defeating Argentina 9-3 Tuesday night in Ajax, Ont.
Cleary, the Harbour Main product who had fanned 16 batters in Canada’s dramatic 3-2 extra-inning win over the United States Monday night, added another 11Ks to his line Tuesday as he allowed five hits, no walks and just a single earned run.
Mullaley, meanwhile, went 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in two runs with a single during what was a six-run fifth inning for Canada. The Freshwater (Placentia) native now has seven hits through Canada’s first three games.
Cleary and Mullaley are two of five players on the Canadian roster from Newfoundland and Labrador. Catcher Ryan Boland of Goulds picked up a hit Tuesday while Brad Ezekiel of Harbour Main played centre field. Jason Hill, who drove in Canada’s winning run in the eighth inning of Monday’s matchup with the Americans, had the night off.
John Hill of St. John’s and Les Howey of Conception Bay South are assistants on head coach John Stuart’s staff.
Canada, which leads its six-country pool, takes the Dominican Republic today and closes out its preliminary-round schedule against Venezuela on Thursday.
The top four teams advance to Friday’s semifinal round, with the winners meeting in Saturday’s final.