LANGFORD, B.C. - Facing the 2023 CCSA National Championship hosts, the Durham College women's softball team shutout the University of Victoria by a 4-0 score to advance to the semifinals.

In Durham's lone game of the day, the Lords set the tone early in the first inning.

Morgan Salter (Battersea, ON) only faced three batters in the top half of the first inning, going three up and three down. The Lords offence would then do their part in then bottom half of the inning, beginning with Grace Hearns (Napanee, ON) scoring from third on a fly ball to centre, after stealing third base.

In the next at bat, Sydney Redick (Alvinston, ON) hit a deep line drive up the middle to send Shelton home from first and double Durham's lead. The Lords added a third run in the opening inning as Chelsea Oke (Brooklin, ON) stole third and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Following a pair of scoreless innings, Ryleigh Easton (Bowmanville, ON) scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to put the Lords up by four. This would be the final run of the game as the Lords blanked the hosts.

Salter pitched the entirety of the game, striking out four batters and conceding no runs against in 7.0 innings. She threw 98 pitches against a combined total of 27 batters.

At the plate, Hearns, Redick and Jessica Greene (Stratford, ON) each had multi-hit performances with two hits each. Hearns particularly went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

The Lords finish round robin play with two wins and a loss and will advance past the quarterfinals and straight through to a semifinal matchup against the UBC-Okanagan Heat on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET. This will be a rematch of the bronze medal game from the 2022 edition of the CCSA National Championship.

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