The host nation Canada won the gold medal at the 14th WBSC Men’s Fastpitch World Championships in Saskatoon on Sunday 5 July, beating defending champions New Zealand 10-5 in the final. Venezuela claimed the bronze medal.
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At one point during the Double Page Playoff round on Saturday, New Zealand defeated the Canadians 9-5, and this put Canada into the pre-final on Sunday morning against Venezuela, with the loser getting the bronze medal and the winner going on to the final. The result was an emphatic 10-0 win for Canada that set them up nicely for their victory over New Zealand in the afternoon.
It was the first time the Canadians had won the tournament since 1992.
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GB Men
The GB Men’s Team fell just short of making the playoffs after a controversial 2-0 loss to Argentina on Thursday 2 July, and instead wound up in the consolation playoffs, where they came from behind to defeat the Netherlands 3-2 on Friday, then lost to Mexico by 7-5 on Saturday, finishing in 11th place.
The final
A total of 6,348 fans at the Bob Van Impe Stadium in Saskatoon (the tournament as a whole drew almost 54,000) watched as Sean Cleary started for Canada and promptly gave up two runs in the top of the first inning on a walk, a double by Jerome Raemaki and a single by Thomas Enoka.
New Zealand starter Heinrick Shannon held the Canadians scoreless for the first two innings, and then New Zealand stretched their lead to 5-0 in the top of the third. Ben Enoka homered to lead off the inning, and after a walk to Raemaki and a double by Thomas Enoka, Sean Clearly was replaced by Devon McCullough for Canada.
McCullough, either nervous or not quite ready, hit the first batter he faced and walked the next two to make the score 5-0. But McCullough eventually got out of the inning and New Zealand managed only one additional hit and no runs over the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, the Canadian offense awoke with four runs in the bottom of the third inning, including back-to-back home runs by Brad Ezekiel and Steve Mullaley, cutting the deficit to one and chasing Heinrick Shannon, who was replaced in the circle by Nik Hayes.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Nik Hayes threw 12 balls in his first 13 pitches to load the bases and back came Heinrick Shannon. Shannon struck out Jeff Ellsworth, but Steve Mullaley then hit the shot of the game, a grand slam home run to centre field that put Canada ahead 8-5 – and they never looked back.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Brad Ezekiel walked and moved up on a bunt, bringing up Steve Mullaley, who already had two home runs. Now he hit a third, against off Heinrick Shannon, and Canada had a five-run lead. Mullaley was 3-for-4 in the game with seven RBIs.
In the top of the seventh inning, with the crowd was cheering for the “local boy”, Devon McCullough shut down the defending champions once again, striking out Stephen Ratu on a signature change-up to end the game.