The day before, her fellow American ace Cat Osterman tossed six scoreless innings and struck out nine while surrendering just one hit to Italy.
With a runner on first base, Canada’s starting pitcher, Sara Groenewegen, smacked a double into the right-center field gap.
Its lone run came in the fifth inning, when McCleney reached on a one-out single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Janie Reed.
After each team plays five games, the top two teams in the six-team field advance to the gold medal game.