Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Jenna Caira delivered one of her devastating change-ups.
The Canadian reliever did it again. And again.
Five in all. Each one fouled off in Japan's searing summer heat.
Up 0-2 in the count Saturday on Australia's Taylah Tsitsikronis, who had moments earlier smacked starter Sara Groenewegen's final offering just wide of the left-field foul pole for what would have been a second-inning grand slam, Caira couldn't quite get one past her locked-in adversary.
Complete coverage: Click for all the news from the Tokyo Olympics
Then the 32-year-old from Toronto finally decided to go with something a little harder on the sixth pitch -- "a gut feeling" -- to register the strikeout before retiring the next batter to end the threat.
"I trust (catcher) Kaleigh Rafter with my whole heart and being," Caira said tossing five consecutive change-ups. "I had to trust that was the pitch I had to beat her on.
"And then boom."
Caira was outstanding in 4 2/3 innings of relief, Jennifer Salling and Erika Polidori each drove in two runs, and Canada downed Australia 7-1 in softball at the Tokyo Olympics.
After watching Groenwegen escape a bases-loaded jam in the first with only one run scored before his team responded with three in the bottom half, Canadian head coach Mark Smith made the call to yank his ace in the second.
"The bottom line is (Tsitsikronis) just about hit the ball out of ballpark," he said. "With Jenna's off-speed pitch, that's the great equalizer."
Caira struck out three, gave up just two hits and didn't walk a batter to get the win as Canada improved to 2-1 at the six-team tournament.
"So proud of her," said Jennifer Salling, who picked up her two RBIs on a ground rule double in the first. "She did such a good job of keeping them off balance. Most importantly, she came in with confidence. You could just feel her energy and her confidence.
"It's just very contagious."
On the heels of Caira's big-time hold in the top of the second, the Canadians made it 4-1 in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error before Polidori belted another ground rule double to plate two more after Australia walked Salling intentionally to load the bases.
They tacked on a seventh run on Emma Entzminger's RBI single in the fourth, and cruised from there.
"(Australia) has been a team that over the years has always given us a fits," Smith said. "We've come out on the wrong side of some of these games."
Ranked third in the world entering the Games, Canada rebounded from Thursday's 1-0 loss to the No. 1 United States on a sweltering morning at Yokohama Baseball Stadium that saw the humidex touch 35 C.
No. 8 Australia, which beat out Canada for bronze the last time softball featured at the Olympics in 2008, dropped to 1-2.
Four players from that event -- Salling, Rafter, Danielle Lawrie and Lauren Regula -- remain in Canada's fold. Stacy Porter and Belinda White are the two veterans left from Australia's roster some 13 years on.
"I have an extreme amount of respect for Australia," said Salling, 34, of Port Coquitlam, B.C. "They're gritty -- they fight, they battle, they compete until the very end.
"Just a great win for us."
In other action Saturday, the U.S. (3-0) beat No. 5 Mexico (0-3) by a 2-0 score, while second-seeded Japan (3-0) secured a 5-0 victory over No. 9 Italy (0-3).
The teams with the four best records following round-robin play have a shot at medals. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds go for gold Tuesday after the third- and fourth-ranked nations square off for bronze.
Canada has never won a medal in Olympic softball, while Australia and the U.S. are the only countries to stand on the podium at all four Games where the sport has featured -- 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.
Softball and baseball, both nixed in 2012 and 2016 from the Games' docket, have been scratched for Paris in 2024, but there's a good chance both will return four years later in Los Angeles.
While the Olympics officially opened Friday, the first two days of softball were held about 240 kilometres from the main sites in Fukushima before switching to Yokahoma for the remainder of the event.
Located about 30 kilometres south of the Tokyo's Olympic Park, the venue is home to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japanese baseball's Central League. The 34,046-seat facility -- devoid of fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic -- has played host to a long list of musical acts since opening in 1978, including Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Madonna.
Canada now turns its attention to the Olympic hosts for the fourth of its five round-robin games Sunday.
And if Smith's club is going to play for gold in Japan, more of the fight and determination saw against Australia -- especially from his lights-out reliever -- will be crucial.
"Very, very disciplined," he said of the 2008 gold medallists. "We're going to have to come up with a very good, strategic ball game.
"We look forward to that."
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on July 24, 2021.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.