LONDON, Ont. - On the second day of the 2022 OCAA Women's Softball Championship, the top four teams in the province took to Alumni Field in London to battle for a spot in Saturday's medal games.
In the first game of the day, the Durham Lords struck first with a RBI double from Jocelyn Shelton to open the scoring. Teammates Sydney Redick and Hannah Oke singled to make the score 3-0. The Hawks came back in the bottom of the second inning with Rilee Devries scoring on a wild pitch followed by a Hannah Koziolek RBI single to make the score 3-2. A sacrifice fly from Shelton gave Durham another run on the board in the top of the fourth frame, but Humber quickly responded with one of their own to make the score 4-3. Humber pitcher Meagan Muir caught a line drive to close out the top of the fifth inning to keep the Hawks within reach. The Hawks had the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, but they were unable to capitalize. Durham relief pitcher Oke was able to hold Humber scoreless in the seventh to give the Lords the 4-3 victory. Oke was named the Player of the Game for Durham and their winning pitcher was Redick. Koziolek was named the Player of the Game for the Hawks. Humber pitcher Muir took the loss.
Friday's second game saw host Fanshawe face the undefeated OCAA league champion St. Clair Saints. St. Clair scored one in the first inning to get on the board first. Fanshawe's Morgan Lowry then struck out three straight Saints in the second frame. St. Clair extended their lead in the third with a two-RBI double by OCAA Women's Softball Player of the Year, Bryanna Kressler. Lowry then had a huge triple to centrefield to score Madeline Pappas. Lowry continued to be a force on the mound, striking out multiple Saints to keep the Falcons within striking distance. Unfortunately, excellent pitching from St. Clair's Player of the Game Kressler secured the 3-1 victory for the Saints. Despite having 10 strikeouts, Lowry suffered the loss for the Falcons but was named the Player of the Game for the home team. The Falcons gave the undefeated Saints their closest game of their season, but their hard-fought efforts ultimately fell short of the upset.
The third game of the day would see the Falcons and Humber battle in an elimination game. Humber came out strong in the first inning, scoring on a pair of errors and an Amelia Russo RBI single to take an early 3-0 lead off of Fanshawe starting pitcher Jada Doxtator. Sara Reading singled to left field in the top of the second frame to score one for the home squad. Lowry came on in relief to start the third inning for the Falcons and held the Hawks to two hits the rest of the way, striking out nine. Humber was able to extend their lead with a run in the sixth frame to make the score 4-1. Doxtator had a big double to left field keeping Fanshawe's tournament hopes alive, but Humber's Muir went the distance for the victory. Muir held the Falcons offence to only three hits to advance to Saturday's medal games. The loss for Fanshawe eliminated them from the tournament. Muir was the Player of the Game for Humber. Reading was named the Player of the Game for the Falcons.
In the final game of the day, with a ticket directly to the gold medal game on the line, St. Clair's Kressler set the tone early against Durham. Her two-RBI triple off of Lords pitcher Morgan Salter got the Saints out to a quick start. Kressler then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-0 in the first inning. St. Clair's Sierra Baltzer scored on an error to get the offence going again in the second frame. A Kressler sacrifice fly then scored OCAA All-Star Shae-Lyn Murphy. Baltzer crossed the plate for the second time that inning to make the score 6-0 on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Murphy and Baltzer had back-to-back singles. Then OCAA batting champion Amy Claydon stepped to the plate and hit a bases clearing double to extend the lead to 11-0. The Saints won the game in five innings. The win secured a berth in Saturday's OCAA gold medal game for the Saints. Durham starter Salter took the loss and Ryleigh Easton was named the Player of the Game for the Lords. The winning pitcher for St. Clair was OCAA Rookie of the Year, Mckenna Copley and Murphy was named the Player of the Game for St. Clair.
The championship wraps up on Saturday, where St. Clair will play the winner of Durham and Humber, who meet in the bronze medal game at 10 a.m. The OCAA bronze medal will be awarded to the loser of the game and the winner will advance to the gold medal championship at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. (if necessary) in the double knockout format. All championship news, webcasts and up-to-date results can be found on the 2022 OCAA Women's Softball Championship website: www.ocaa.com/soft.
Source: Fanshawe Falcons
Photo Credit: Matt Hiscox
Thursday, October 20
Game #1: No. 4 Fanshawe def. No. 5 Conestoga 5-1
Game #2: No. 3 Durham def. No. 6 Seneca 16-5
Friday, October 21
Game #3: No. 3 Durham def. No. 2 Humber 4-3
Game #4: No. 1 St. Clair def. No. 4 Fanshawe 3-1
Game #5: No. 2 Humber def. No. 4 Fanshawe 4-1
Game #6: No. 1 St. Clair def. No. 3 Durham 11-0
Saturday, October 22
OCAA Bronze Medal Game
Game #7: No. 2 Humber vs. No. 3 Durham - 10 a.m.
Losing team presented OCAA Bronze Medal at conclusion of game
OCAA Gold Medal Game(s)
Game #8: Winner Game #7 vs. No. 1 St. Clair - 1 p.m.
Game #9*: Winner Game #7 vs. No. 1 St. Clair - 3 p.m.
*If necessary
OCAA Gold and Silver Medals presented at the conclusion of final game
- OCAA -
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