VIDEO: Canada golden in Saskatoon at world softball championships

Devon McCullough said winning a gold medal in front of friends and family was one of the best feelings of his life.

The Saskatoon pitcher shook off some early jitters to help Canada come from behind Sunday to beat New Zealand 10-5 in the final at the 2015 International Softball Federation (ISF) Men’s Softball Championships. 

“I don’t even know if there are words to explain it. My entire body was shaking,” McCullough said after the game.

McCullough, the only Saskatchewan-born player on the team, entered the game in the third inning to slow down the New Zealand bats which had put up four runs and were threatening to blow the game wide open.

Saskatoon breaks attendance record with over 6,500 at Bob Van Impe Field Sunday. Brent Bosker/News Talk Radio

“Kind of rough warming up. Ran out there, was pumped and just kind of threw a couple wild ones,” he said, after walking the first two batters resulting in the New Zealand’s fifth run.

“Needed a few to settle in you know get used to the crowd, it was nuts. After that it felt good though,” he said.

Settle in he did. 

After the third inning, McCullough threw four shutout innings. He capped his performance with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh inning with New Zealand threatening with runners on the corners.

“The big thought in my head was just throw strikes. Make em’ earn it. Keep the walks down,” he said.

While McCullough kept New Zealand off the scoreboard, Steve Mullaley single-handedly got Canada back into the game with the long ball.

He hit a grand slam in the fourth inning then followed that with a two-run home run in the sixth inning. 

The crowd of over 6,500 at Bob Van Impe Field Sunday witnessed Canada win its first men’s world title since 1992.

Saskatoon also broke the attendance record in the process for an ISF tournament with over 58,000 fans attending the week-long tournament.

bbosker@rawlco.com

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