Shawville softballer Cade Kuehl and the U18 Canadian team won a bronze medal at last week’s Pan American Championships in Argentina, mustering a comeback victory over Venezuela on Friday to climb atop the podium.
North and South America’s six top teams were in contention for the title of top team, including Canada (ranked fourth in the world) as well as powerhouses Argentina (third) and Venezuela (second).
Kuehl and Canada faced a tough game against host Argentina to start the tournament, losing an 11-4 decision as Kuehl batted in a single run for his team.
Canada rebounded to win the remainder of its games in the round-robin phase of the tournament, defeating Peru by a score of 16-0, Mexico at 10-8, Guatemala at 11-1, and Venezuela by 8-5.
The team’s 4-1 record in the group phase placed them in a bronze medal matchup against Venezuela. After the Canadians trailed 6-0 after the third inning, they scored seven unanswered runs to win the game and the bronze medal by a score of 7-6.
“It was pretty cool,” said Kuehl of the comeback, adding that his teammates created great chemistry throughout their two weeks in Argentina despite many of them never having played together before.
“It felt like we were teammates for years, and everybody just bonded and came together as one, even after hating each other for the last three years,” he said.
Kuehl was only listed in Canada’s lineup for two games in the tournament – the opening contest against Argentina and another round-robin game against Guatemala – batting in two runs total throughout the tournament.
He said while his contribution wasn’t what he might have wanted going into the championships, he found other ways to contribute to the team, providing bench support to his teammates.
“I didn’t get to contribute as much as I would have wanted, but [ . . . ] the national team is a really big thing, 16 players in the whole country, so it’s tough to crack the lineup,” he said, adding that it was a learning experience.
“It shows how important everybody is on a team, and there’s always something you can do even if you’re not in the role that you’d like to be doing.”
Kuehl said his first time playing in front of South American crowds lived up to expectations, with the stands packed for most of their games, especially for their opening contest against host Argentina.
“The crowd was just screaming and yelling the whole time. There was probably 3,000 people there,” he said, adding that in the bronze-medal game the Argentinian fans started to cheer for his team.
“They kind of shifted towards us in that game, so that was big too,” he said.
With the third-place finish, Canada advances to the world championships that will be held in Czechia in 2028. Kuehl, like many of the current roster members, will not qualify for the U18 team by that point since they will have aged out.
Kuehl said his next step will be to train for the U20 Canadian Nationals that will be held next summer in Carp, Ont.
