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Another quiet night at the plate ultimately ended Canada鈥檚 hopes of a championship run at the Junior Men鈥檚 World Softball Championship in Whitehorse.

Japanese ace Kento Okazaki tossed a two-hitter, striking out seven en route to a 7-0 win.

The 19-year-old also drove in three runs, highlighted by a towering two-run shot over the centre-field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The hit would chase losing pitcher Johnny Baker from the game in favour of Tyler Randerson.

The hard-throwing right-hander allowed three more runs in his two innings of work, including a solo homer to Kazuki Kajihara in the bottom of the sixth that ended the game on the mercy rule.

Canada鈥檚 record dropped to 3-5 with the loss.

Japanese slugger Haruki Kinjo homered in the fifth as his team kept its slim playoff hopes alive.

鈥淚f (we had) lost this one, it was basically over,鈥濃�圝apan coach Yoshio Yamaguchi told reporters via local translator Fumi Torigai.

The three homers were the most Japan has hit in a game, the coach said.

鈥淚鈥坱hink all players were really concentrated, focused,鈥� Yamaguchi said. 鈥�(Okazaki) was excellent.鈥�

Handing the ball to Okazaki was a no-brainer. The young pitcher went head-to-head with Argentina鈥檚 Huemul Mata in the 2012 championship final before eventually being tagged with the loss.

Okazaki 鈥� whose heater comes across the plate as fast as 78 mph 鈥� struck out the heart of Canada鈥檚 order in the top of the fourth, then hit one over the fence in the bottom half of the inning.

鈥淭hey have a lot of really powerful batters, so I had to focus on where to aim my pitches,鈥� Okazaki said post-game. 鈥淚 really focused on throwing it to the right place.鈥�

Canadian centre-fielder Matt Pilon and first-baseman Francois-Charles Rene were the only two batters to collect hits in the contest.

鈥淗e was a great pitcher,鈥� said Rene of Okazaki. 鈥淗e has a good riseball. But maybe we were just not ready to play. I think it鈥檚 in our heads ... I think the whole team was in a bad sequence at the same time, so that didn鈥檛 help for sure.鈥�

The 19-year-old from St-Leonard-d鈥橝ston, Que., leads Canada鈥檚 batters with two homers and eight RBI鈥坕n the tournament.

Being eliminated early hurts, Rene admitted.

鈥淲e鈥檙e playing in front of our country, so it鈥檚 tough to take, but we have to keep our heads up. It鈥檚 been a great experience.鈥�

Canadian head coach Jim Jones said the tournament has been a failure.

鈥淎bsolutely, I鈥坈onsider this a disappointment, because we want to play for a medal every year,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he boys are pretty down. We always think in Canada that we have very good boys fastball, but it鈥檚 a statement that we have to get better at it.

鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be more people playing all across Canada.鈥�

With the recent success of the Toronto Blue Jays, more young athletes are turning to baseball rather than the underhand game, Jones said.

Softball Canada also needs to work on its pitching program, said the 54-year-old coach from Leduc, Alta.

鈥淲e need to develop pitchers in Canada that can throw 80 mph,鈥� he said candidly.

Canada will face Singapore in its final round robin game today at 5 p.m.