It was another combined pitching effort for Canada, with Sara Groenewegen (Surrey), Jenna Caira (Toronto) and Danielle Lawrie (Langley) all seeing action in Canada's 3-0 defeat of Puerto Rico at the Americas Qualifier.

Groenewegen made the start and went four innings, giving up no runs on four hits while striking out four. Caira came in to start the fifth and pitched two perfect innings, including snagging a line drive to end the sixth. Lawrie closed out the game with an inning of work in which she didn’t allow a hit and struck out one.

It was a tense game with both teams putting runners on base in the early innings but unable to cash them in. Jennifer Salling (Port Coquitlam) hit a double in the bottom of the third inning to cash in a couple of runs to make the score 3-0. 

Lawrie and Salling competed in the 2005 Canada Summer Games while Groenewegen competed in the 2011 Canada Summer Games.

It was a key win for Canada as the top three teams from each pool will carry their records against the teams they have already played into the Super Round. Team Canada (4-0) will wrap up its preliminary round schedule against the Bahamas at 3:00 p.m. today.