CALVILLO, Mexico - A walk-off to center field in the seventh inning by Anna Kimbrell (Fort Mill, S.C.) led the USA Baseball Women's National Team to a 12-11 victory over Canada in the team's final exhibition game on Friday at Parque de Beisbol in Calvillo, Mexico. 

The U.S. will begin the COPABE Women's Pan-American Championships on Sunday, August 18, at 9 a.m. CT in a matchup against Venezuela.

Seven U.S. batters finished the day with multi-hit performers, including Alex Hugo (Olathe, Kan.), Jade Gortarez (Riverside, Calf.), Megan Baltzell (Stafford, Va.) and Ashton Lansdell (Marietta, Ga.), who each tallied three hits apiece. 

It was an offensive game for both teams, with Canada jumping out to an 8-2 lead after the home half of the fourth inning. But, Team USA gained its first lead in the bottom half of the fourth with seven runs scored and plated another two in the fifth. With the game tied at 11-11 in the home half of the seventh, Kelsie Whitmore (Temecula, Calif.) led off the inning with a double and Kimbrell knocked her in two batters later to win the game.

Sara Tobias (New York, N.Y.) started on the bump for the red, white and blue, tossing three strikeouts and allowing six runs on five hits across two innings of work. Lansdell came in as relief in the second inning and only allowed two runs on two hits while sitting down four batters. She picked up the victory for Team USA while Canadian reliever Amanda Asay suffered the loss. 

Key Moments 

• Canada jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs on three hits in the first inning.
• With two outs in the second inning, Lansdell and Hugo hit back-to-back singles to put Lansdell in scoring position for Kylee Lahners (Laguna Hills, Calif.), who pushed her across the plate with a single to center, making it 3-1.
• Canada put up three more runs in the top of the third inning to extend its lead to 6-1.
• Baltzell led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to left field and stole second before Whitmore sent her home on a sac-fly to right field and put the score at 6-2.
• Canada extended its lead to 8-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.
• Hugo led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to left field and Denae Benites (Las Vegas, Nev.), who came in to pinch run, advanced to third when Gortarez singled up the middle. Gortarez stole second and the two scored on a single off the bat off Malaika Underwood (San Diego, Calif) to cut the deficit in half, 8-4.
• Underwood stole second and crossed the plate in the next at-bat when Baltzell knocked the ball into right field, putting the score at 8-5 in the fourth inning.
• Baltzell advanced to second base when Whitmore was hit by a pitch and made it an 8-6 game in the fourth inning on a single up the middle by Michelle Cobb (Wenatchee, Wash.).
• Whitmore moved to second base on Cobb's single, third base on a walk to Kimbrell, and put Team USA within one on a single through the left side by Lansdell, making the score 8-7 in the fourth.
• Benites came back in to run for Kimbrell and, along with Cobb, was sent home by a Hugo single to left field to end the fourth inning with its first lead of the game at 9-8.
• Jamie Mackay (Newport Beach, Calif.) came in to pinch run for Baltzell after she hit a lead off single. Whitmore followed with a single of her own in the next at-bat and Lahners pushed them both across the plate with a two RBI single to left to give the U.S. an 11-8 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
• Canada scored three runs in the top of the sixth and tied the game at 11. The Canadians held off the U.S. effort in the bottom half of the inning and failed to put a run across in the top of the seventh, giving Team USA the opportunity to win in the bottom frame.
• Whitmore led off the final frame with a double to center field and Kimbrell's walk-off single to center knocked her in to give Team USA a 12-11 win.

Notables

• Ashton Lansdell collected the win for the U.S., tossing two strikeouts and a walk and allowing two runs on two hits in two innings pitched.
• The U.S. and Canada combined for 33 hits in the contest with 20 coming from the Team USA offense.
• Four Team USA athletes notched three hits in the game, they include Alex Hugo (3-for-5), Jade Gortarez (3-for-3), Megan Baltzell (3-for-5) and Ashton Lansdell (3-for-4).

Up Next

• The USA Baseball Women's National Team will open up play in the 2019 COPABE Women's Pan-American Championships on Sunday, August 18 at 9 a.m. CT against Venezuela. 

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