US shutout streak continues with Canney’s 2-hitter in 1-0 victory against futures team

US shutout streak continues with Canney’s 2-hitter

OKLAHOMA CITY — Eileen Canney keeps accumulating fond memories when softball brings her to Oklahoma City.

A day after she accepted her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Canney struck out 14 in the U.S. national team’s third straight shutout and Alissa Haber homered in a 1-0 victory against the USA Futures team at the World Cup of Softball on Saturday.

“It’s been a great week, and it’s nice because my family is here and friends are here to support us,” Canney said. “I just love Oklahoma City. Really great memories here.”

Canney (1-0) pitched on the same field for Northwestern at the 2006 Women’s College World Series, when the Wildcats made it all the way to the finals before losing to Arizona. She and her fiance, Andrew, started dating shortly before that.

So Friday along the Bricktown canal near downtown, he dropped to one knee and popped the question.

“Oklahoma City is really special for us, so it was a perfect place for it,” Canney said.

A day later, the U.S. national team rookie made her first start at the World Cup and put up zeros just as Monica Abbott and Jennie Finch had done for the Americans (3-0) in the first two games at the tournament.

Canney allowed only Megan Langenfeld’s line single to lead off the fifth inning and Valerie Arioto’s single down the left-field line in the seventh. Arioto was cut down at second as she tried to turn it into a double.

“It’s tough as a rookie coming on this team because we’ve got such great veterans and such a tradition that they’re stepping into. That can be a little intimidating at times and a little tough,” U.S. coach Jay Miller said. “But I thought Eileen did a great job today and really settled in.”

The game featured a squad of the nation’s top players against the best players who didn’t make the national team.

Jordan Taylor (0-1) threw a three-hitter and retired 11 straight at one point for the Futures (1-2), but yielded Haber’s leadoff home run in the third inning that ended up being the difference.

“It was a low ball. I usually don’t swing at the low balls, but at that point in the at-bat I was swinging at anything but the change-up,” said Haber, who set a record with 20 RBIs at the world championships three weeks ago.

“She kept us off balance a lot with that change-up, so if I saw anything hard that was around the zone, I was swinging.”

The Futures team was also shut out by the national team in all four exhibition games the teams played last month in Ohio.

“We need to make an adjustment and put the ball in play clearly,” said Futures coach Kate Drohan, who was Canney’s head coach at Northwestern. “That’s our No. 1 objective. That was the first thing we talked about after the game.”