THE CANADIAN PRESS
BEIJING — Canada finished fourth in Olympic softball after a 5-3 loss to Australia on Wednesday.
Australia will play Japan with a berth in Thursday’s gold-medal match against the U.S. on the line. The loser of Australia-Japan gets the bronze medal.
The Canadians, considered an underdog against the Australians, held their own as the game was tied 3-3 heading into the fifth inning.
But Kerry Wyborn’s two-out shallow single to left field in the sixth scored a pair of runs for Australia.
Canada, which mustered four hits in the game, didn’t get a runner on base the final two innings as Australia played airtight defence.
"We had some hard hits go right at them and unfortunately I left some balls leave the ball park," said pitcher Lauren Bay Regula of Trail, B.C.
The sister of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay had nine strikeouts and gave up five hits over a complete game.
Australia hit solo homers in the second and fourth innings, but Canadian head coach Lori Sippel didn’t want to take Bay Regula out of the game.
"I kept checking in with Lauren to see and her velocity was still up," Sippel said. "She had good bend.
"She’d come up with some big strikeouts and got some good quick outs at times and then at other times, she struggled.
"You have to tip your hat to Australia. If Lauren made a mistake or was even close to a mistake, they were all over it and that was the difference in the game and certainly what kept them in it."
Canada squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the second inning before going up 3-2 in the third.
Megan Timpf of Port Dover, Ont., drew a bases-loaded walk, and Alison Bradley of Pinkerton, Ont., followed by lining a single up the middle to bring two more runs around.
Australia’s Danielle Stewart tied it up with a homer run in the fourth. Sandy Lewis hit a home run in the second inning.
The Canadians opened the Olympic tournament 3-0 and led the U.S. 1-0 after five innings before falling 8-1.
But they didn’t score a run in their next three preliminary-round losses prior to Wednesday’s semifinal.
"Those last few games, we know we’re a better team than what the last few games showed and this (game) is more indicative of the type of team we are," Bay Regula said.
Women’s softball has been dropped from the Olympic program for 2012 by the International Olympic Committee, but the sport is applying for reinstatement for 2016.
The U.S. beat Japan 4-1 in a nine-inning playoff game Wednesday to get into the final.
