USA Red concluded round-robin play in the 2001 Canada Cup with a five-inning 9-0 victory over Italy, while USA Blue suffered its first loss of the tournament, falling to The Netherlands 2-1 Thursday at Surrey, British Columbia. USA Blue finished round-robin play with a 7-1 record and is the No. 1 seed in the eight-team playoff. USA Red posted a 6-2 mark in round-robin play and will learn its seeding when pairings are announced today.

Catherine Osterman pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 for USA Red against Italy. A lead off single in the second innning prevented Osterman from throwing a perfect game. USA Red scored all of its nine runs in the first two innings, as Tairia Mims' two-run single capped a three-run first inning and bases-loaded walks to Lovianne Jung and Stacey Nuveman sparked a six-run second inning.

Jolanda Kroesen's two-run homer in the second inning broke a scoreless tie and The Netherlands held on to hand USA Blue its only loss in round-robin play. Kim DePaul's RBI-single in the fourth inning pulled USA Blue within a run, but The Netherlands withstood bases-loaded threats in the fifth and seventh innings to preserve the win.

Live scoring of the USA Softball playoff games at the Canada Cup, as well as box scores and game stories, can be found at www.usasoftball.com.