VICTORIA - The St. Clair College women's softball team successfully defended its Canadian Collegiate Softball Association National Championship this weekend with a perfect 5-0 record that was capped by a 9-2 win over Durham College (Oshawa) Sunday afternoon.
The Saints started pool play Friday morning with a 4-0 win over Humber College (Etobicoke) sparked by the pitching of Mckenna Copley (Dover Centre, Ont.) who went the distance while spreading out five hits and two walks to go with seven strikeouts. The offence used the long ball courtesy of a solo homerun by Shae-Lyn Murphy (Windsor, Ont./Holy Names) and a two-run dinger by Amy Claydon (Cambridge, Ont.).
Friday afternoon St. Clair topped the University of British Colombia (Okanagan) by a score of 4-2 in comeback fashion. After spotting UBCO two runs in the third inning the Saints put together a four-run rally in the sixth to turn the tables. Another game with lots of firepower saw St. Clair get homeruns from Julia Brusseau (Lakeshore, Ont./St. Anne) and Bryanna Kressler (Kitchener, Ont.). A solo shot by Kressler got the rally started with Brusseau chasing home Alivia Peterson (Windsor, Ont./St. Anne) who had earlier doubled home a run. Kressler took the pitching strip win in relief working the final three innings in shutout fashion giving up just a single hit while striking out four.
Saturday morning the Saints finished pool play with a mercy shortened 5-inning 9-0 win over Queen's University (Kingston) advancing them directly to the semi-final round on Sunday. Murphy, Claydon and Jacklyn Yewchyn (Windsor, Ont./Kennedy) each finished with two hits and two RBI in the game. Copley (1.0 IP) gave way to Claydon (4.0 IP) who earned the win on the pitching rubber who collectively did not allow a Queen's baserunner securing the combined perfect game.
Sunday morning's semi-final was a rematch with Humber College and St. Clair asserted further dominance with starter Kressler tossing a seven-inning no-hitter as she surrendered only two walks while striking out eight batters. The 5-0 win propelled the Saints to the championship final helped offensively by Sierra Baltzer (LaSalle, Ont./Sandwich) who homered as part of her two-hit game while teammate Claydon had three hits including a double.
The gold medal came courtesy of a mercy shortened 9-2 verdict over Durham College (Oshawa) Sunday afternoon. The Lords opened with a run in the top of the first inning, but St. Clair answered quickly with four runs in the bottom half to seize control using a lead-off solo homerun by Murphy followed by a three-run round tripper by Kressler. Baltzer had a three-run wallop of her own to put the Saints up 7-1 in the second inning as part of her two-hit game. Durham got a run back on a homer of their own in the third inning to make it 7-2 but that was as close as they would get as Claydon clubbed a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth to close out the scoring. St. Clair starter Kressler gave up two runs on three hits and a walk but struck out five through five innings and led her team to their second consecutive national championship.
Source: St. Clair Saints