SASKATOON - The Durham College women's softball team had their run at a national championship cut short as they were beat 2-1 in the quarter-finals by the University of Regina Saturday night.
After starting the championship with a pair of wins, the Lords would end up 2-1 in round robin play after suffering a 4-1 loss to the St. Clair Saints in the morning.
Sitting in a three-way tie with Saskatchewan and St. Clair with matching 2-1 records, the Lords would end up finishing in second place when tie-breaking procedures were used to determine pool standings.
Matching up against the 1-2 Regina Cougars that finished third in Pool B, the Lords ran into a red-hot pitcher as Mackenzie Acton was lights out in the elimination game. Acton held the Lords to just three hits and one unearned run in the complete game victory.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the sixth, Rebecca Ropp (Milverton, Ont.) would finally bring the Lords offence to life as she hit a one-out double. The Cougars committed an error on Jaimie Clarke's (Elmvale, Ont.) sacrifice bunt, allowing Ropp to score from second.
Unfortunately for Durham, two errors in the bottom half of the inning would cost them the game as Regina had a two-out one-run rally that put them back out in front.
Megan McDonald (Brampton, Ont.) led off the seventh inning with a single but Acton would get the next three batters out to send Regina to the semifinals.
Ashley Black (Waterloo, Ont.) suffered the loss for Durham allowing two runs (one earned) off of seven hits over six innings of work.
At the conclusion of round robin play, Clarke was named to the tournament all-star team. She posted a .333 batting average with three RBIs and a stolen base.
Durham will now turn their attention to the remainder of the OCAA regular season as they look to book a spot in the provincial championship taking place in Kitchener, Ont.
The Lords enter the final stretch with an 8-6 record and are back on home turf Tuesday night as they host the Mohawk Mountaineers. The teams split their doubleheader in Mohawk in September.
Source: Durham College
Photo Credit: Jim Nemish