BRAMPTON, Ont. – For the first time since 2002-04, the Durham College women's softball team has won three straight Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championships.
 
This is Durham's unprecedented 19^th title since OCAA softball started in 1981. To make the math easier, that means the Lords have won 19 of a possible 37 championships – just over half. The Seneca Sting have six titles, the second most in OCAA history.
 
Durham qualified for the championship on Friday night with an 11-0 victory over the top-seeded St. Clair Saints, who they would end up facing twice on Saturday after the Saints knocked off the Mohawk Mountaineers in the bronze medal game.
 
In the double-knockout format the Lords had to lose twice on the day and even though they looked poised to win the first game against St. Clair on Saturday, up 2-1 in the top of the seventh, Megan Lumley hit a three-run home run to take a 4-2 lead for the Saints and force the second gold medal game to be played.
 
Ashley Black (Waterloo, Ont.) took the loss for Durham, going 6.2 innings and allowing four earned runs on six hits and three walks. Sara Stiller allowed only two runs by the Lords on seven hits and two walks.
 
Sarah Seifried (Drayton, Ont.) had the lone RBI for Durham in the game as she brought home Sabrina Stalteri (Vaughan, Ont.) before Emily Hill (Ohsweken, Ont.) scored on a wild pitch.
 
The second game of the day – with a champion guaranteed to be crowned – was all Durham as the Lords walked away with a 9-0 victory over St. Clair.
 
Similar to Friday against the Saints, it was highlighted by an Ashley Wallace (Coldwater, Ont.) home run – this time a three-run shot in the top of the fourth, which put her team up 7-0 after four. She would late be named the championship MVP. 
 
Stalteri had driven in Jaimie Clarke (Elmvale, Ont.) and Lisa Daughterty (Georgetown, Ont.) earlier in the inning, while Clarke brought home Marina Christie (Pickering, Ont.) and Seifried to open the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the second.
 
Stalteri and Seifried each finished off the game with RBIs in the fifth and sixth innings to cap off their championship victory.
 
On the mound, it was a complete game victory for first-year pitcher Hill. She allowed no runs on four hits and three walks for the shutout. She struck out four Saints and received great support defensively from her team as she attacked St. Clair all day in the strike zone.
 
Sara Stiller took the loss, going three innings and allowing two runs – one earned – on two hits and three walks. Olivia Elliott finished the final four innings, giving up six runs – all earned – on nine hits.

Championship Awards

OCAA Championship MVP
Ashley Wallace, Durham

OCAA Championship All-Stars
Aimee Leduc, Mohawk
Megan Lumley, St.Clair
Jordan Taylor, St. Clair
Sabrina Stalteri, Durham
Emily Hill, Durham 

 
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 26-12
Conference Record: 17-7