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Maple Ridge softball athlete takes bronze at the Tokyo Olympics

Larissa Franklin and the team Canada women’s softball team beat Mexico to take bronze
Colleen Flanagan
Colleen Flanagan
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Canada’s Larissa Franklin, right, reacts past Italy’s Amanda Fama after hitting a run-scoring double during a softball game at Yokohama Baseball Stadium during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Yokohama, Japan. She took home a bronze medal after the team beat Mexico the following day. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A Maple Ridge softball athlete has won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Larissa Franklin and the Canadian women’s softball team edged out Mexico to take the bronze by a score of 3-2. This is the first Olympic medal ever won by a Canadian team for this sport.

Canada took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Victoria’s Emma Entzminger’s two-out single scored Jenn Salling and Erika Polidori.

Mexico cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning, but Canada nearly extended the lead in the bottom half of the frame but Victoria Hayward was cut down at the plate while trying to score.

In the fifth, with Jenna Caira in the pitcher’s circle, Mexico tied the game after a two-out single scored a runner from third, but Canada pushed back in the bottom of the inning, when Janet Leung – who started the inning with an infield single – scored on a sacrifice fly from Delta’s Kelsey Harshman.

White Rock’s Danielle Lawrie took over from there, retiring the side with relative ease in the sixth – striking out two while allowing one single – and in the seventh, struck out two more to end the game.

READ MORE: Maple Ridge outfielder Larissa Franklin will play for Canada at the Olympics

“What you saw today was character and culture step up when it had to and get the job done,” said Canadian coach Mark Smith. “We got a lead. We gave up that lead. We had an opportunity to score a go-ahead run. They made a great play at the plate. That would have been enough for a lot of teams to pack it in.”

ALSO READ: Maple Ridge outfielder back with Canada for Pan Am Games

Japan defeated the United States in the gold-medal game, successfully defending their Olympic title from 2008.

• With files from The Associated Press and Nick Greenizan, reporter at the Peace Arch News

Have a story tip? Email: cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
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Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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