University of Albany Softball's Leah McIntosh Helps Lead Team Canada to Silver Medal at Canada Cup - UAlbany Sports 2009

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Surrey, British Columbia – University at Albany’s Leah McIntosh helped lead Team Canada to a silver medal at the 16th Canada Cup International Women's Fastpitch Tournament in Surrey, British Columbia on Sunday, July 12. Canada, which advanced to the championship game against Team USA with a 6-0 victory over Venezuela earlier in the day, held a one-run advantage heading into the bottom of the seventh before the United States rallied to win the title by a 3-2 score on a run-scoring, two-out single.

McIntosh made three appearances in her debut with the Senior National Softball Team and conceded earned runs on just one occasion. The reigning America East Conference Pitcher of the Year most notably hurled two shutout innings in a victory over the Netherlands. She was on a roster which featured nine players returning from the 2008 Olympic Team, four players who played for the Canadian Junior Women’s National Team two years ago and six others who were selected from three evaluation camps held over the past month.

McIntosh is a two-time NFCA all-region selection who threw a national-best four perfect games as well as 10 shutouts during the 2009 collegiate season. McIntosh broke the Division I program records for career strikeouts (621) and no-hitters (6) while leading America East with a 1.34 earned run average. A member of the ECAC Division I All-Star Team, McIntosh ranked third nationally with 10.6 strikeouts per seven innings.

Team Canada will now gear up for the KFC World Cup of Softball presented by Six Flags, which will take place July 16-20 in Oklahoma City. The squad will compete against Venezuela, Italy, Australia, the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. Selected games, including Saturday’s tilt between the United States and Canada at 1 p.m. Eastern, will be televised live on ESPN. The championship on Monday, July 20 will air live on ESPN2 at 9 p.m.