OCAA Women's SoftballBronze Medal – Durham College WINDSOR, Ont. – It didn't take long for the Durham College women's softball team to return to the podium at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championship, as the Lords won a bronze medal in Windsor this weekend.
One season ago, the Lords were shutout of a medal for the first time in 17 years. This year, the Lords used a 13-3 opening round victory over Conestoga to propel them into a medal position. Unfortunately for Durham, Conestoga would get their revenge on Saturday, earning a trip to the gold medal game with an 8-5 victory over the Lords.
Durham has now won 17 medals in the last 18 years, and 30 in women's softball overall.
Saturday's game was a battle between Durham and Conestoga, as they were tied 5-5 heading into the seventh inning. Conestoga would manage to put together a late game rally, scoring three runs to take an 8-5 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, OCAA pitcher of the year Lauren Ruf shut down the Lords' offence, to pick up the complete game victory.
St. Clair, the number one seed in the championship, would go on and defeat Conestoga 7-5 in the gold medal game. Despite the loss, it was Conestoga's best finish in women's softball since 1998, when they also won a silver medal. Conestoga were bronze medalists last year, breaking up the Lords medal streak.
On Friday, Durham was able to put 13 runs on the board against Conestoga, which included seven runs in the fifth inning. Five Lords batters had a multi-hit game including
Tara Robinson and
Kayla Gammie with three hits apiece, while
Katrina Gammie,
Justine Pike and
Lindsay Geffros had two.
Courtney Hobbs and
Katrina Gammie each had home runs while
Ashley Black allowed two runs against in the complete game victory.
In the night game, Durham dropped a 9-2 decision to St. Clair.
At the conclusion of the event, Lords third baseman
Katrina Gammie was named a championship all-star. The Guelph native batted .444 over the three games with six RBI and a home run. Gammie had a great season for Durham as she also named a championship all-star at the national championship one week prior.
The Lords have not won the OCAA championship since 2011, their longest drought since 1990 when the team did not win a title for a sixth straight season.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDSOverall Record: 20-13
Conference Record: 14-4
Next Game: OCAA Championship vs. Conestoga (Fri. Oct. 17)
