Wet, wild, weekend for the Gee-Gees - women

[fastball]

10/24/05 11:31:27 PM 
From:  "Scott Searle" <scotts_43(at)hotmail.com> 
To:  fastball at pmihrm.com  
   
Subject:  Gee-Gees Capture Silver  
  

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Wet, wild, weekend for the Gee-Gees.

 

The representatives from the University of Ottawa came away with
the Silver Medal at the OIWFA Championships.  It was a rainy
and cold weekend that changed the game for all of the teams.
 The Gee-Gees lost the final game 2-0 to the University of Toronto
that won their first Gold Medal.  Congratulations are also in
order to the University of Western for winning their second straight
Bronze Medal.

 

The Gee-Gees went into the Championship Tournament as the number
two seed overall and were scheduled to play McMaster, Guelph,
and Toronto.  Their first game against McMaster was played at
11:00 Saturday morning. 

 

On a wet field and through very cold weather the Garnet and Grey
prevailed in an uncharacteristically sloppy game.  The offense
started strong with 3 runs in the first inning behind a pair
of bunt singles from Erin Durant and Danna Masters, a pair of
walks to Lindsey McLaughlin and Nicole Dunlop and a double from
Jen Leppard did the damage.  The whole team contributed to the
offensive output with Heather Huggins driving in Pam Hrick and
Jen Leppard in the 3rd with a huge triple. She continued a strong
game with an RBI single in the 4th.  The team piled on another
run in the 6th to take a 9-7 win. A very strong start for the
offense but the defense seemed to struggle with the cold making
several errors and allowing 7 runs, most of them unearned. Lynn
Kearns took the start for the Gees and pitched well before handing
the ball to Elissa Sivel who took the win. Elissa is in her first
year with the team and brightens the prospects for the future
as a strong pitcher and outfielder.

 

Jillian Taylor took the ball for the Gee-Gees in their second
game against defending Champions and host team Guelph.  The team
played probably their best game of the weekend taking a 9-1 win
in a game that was stopped after 6 innings.  Jillian had a strong
game and was helped by great calling by Sarah Thompson who had
a fantastic weekend behind the plate.  The defense Gee-Gee fans
are used to was back frustrating Guelph hitters with strong plays.
 The offense kept rolling, scoring 9 runs in 6 innings.  Notable
efforts came from Pam Hrick who scored twice and drove in 3 runs
with a pair of doubles. Sam Pantalone kicked off an awesome weekend
with an RBI triple to open the scoring.

 

Their next game against the University of Toronto was delayed
until Sunday due to heavy rain and unplayable fields.  Volunteers
from two teams worked hard on the diamonds to ensure the games
could go on.  A big thank you goes to Kevin Gordon and Pete Lemon
from Western for working hard with rakes and Cory Morrison from
the University of Ottawa for helping out.  Also the team would
like to thank former Gee-Gee coaches Brian Robertson and Genevieve
Walkden for helping get the field ready to go.  Great job guys,
thanks for stepping up when everyone needed you.

 

This was the Gee-Gees chance to knock the Varsity Blues out of
the tournament.  They had an earlier loss to Guelph and with
the host team at 2-1 and Ottawa at 2-0 a Gee Gee win would have
eliminated the eventual champions.  Toronto had their backs against
the wall and played that way with a very strong performance beating
the Gees 8-4.  The highlight of the game was a monster 2 run
homerun from Shannon Lundrigan.  The shot cleared the fence by
at least 40 feet and hit the second row of trees halfway up.
 This was Shannons first homerun over the fence and joined the
three-member club of Gee-Gees who have hit it over the fence
this season.  Shannon has blossomed into one of the most valuable
players on the team this season and the team is looking forward
to having her back next year as she finishes her degree. The
defensive highlight of the game came from Danna Masters who made
a spectacular catch with the bases loaded to keep the team in
the game.  Danna was playing her last day as a Gee Gee and made
everyone remember what made her one of the most valuable players
in the league over her 4 years. She is a star on both sides of
the ball and will be sorely missed by the program.

 

With the tie-breaking formula and the Gee-Gees big win against
Guelph they still retained first place in their division despite
the loss. A Western loss to Brock pushed them to 2nd in their
division and set up a semi-final match-up between the two top
seeds from the regular season.  The Gee-Gees finished the season
with the top offense and matched up with the Mustangs top pitching
and defense.  Western opened the scoring with 4 runs in the first
and Ottawa answered with one on another triple from Sam Pantalone.
 Sam had a monster day at the plate and in the field for the
Gee Gees.  A double from Danna Masters in the 2nd inning drove
in Shannon Lundrigan and Pam Hrick.  After a shaky start Lynn
Kearns settled down and pitched a great game for the garnet and
grey.  They showed off their offensive prowess racking up 8 runs
on the team that allowed the fewest runs in the regular season.
 Lindsey McLaughlin launched her second homerun of the season
and second of the day for the Gee Gees in the 5th inning and
Sam Pantalone exploded for a 3 run shot to left field for the
3rd home run of the day, 5th on the season, and became the 4th
different player to knock it over the fence.  Very impressive
results for a team that made hitting their priority, a strong
credit to Head Coach Gil Read who is one of the best hitting
coaches in North America. A scary moment for the Gee-Gees in
the 7th inning when a Mustang batter drove a line drive off of
Lynn Kearns thumb.  She left the game and was unavailable for
the final. Bad luck for Gee Gee hurlers this season as Lindsey
Hutton stayed at home with a broken foot after sliding into third
base in St. Catharines, Ashley Sands was battling a sore shoulder
after injuring it diving into a base in London and Lynn, whose
injury forced her out of the game and the lineup.  A very impressive
defensive performance by the Gee-Gees, particularly the middle
infielders, Shannon Lundrigan added to her performance with several
excellent plays at shortstop and Pam Hrick put on an absolute
show at second base with several game-saving catches.  Pam’s
athleticism was on full display in her final day as a Gee Gee.

 

The team expended a great amount of energy defeating Western
in the semi and appeared to be out of gas for the final game.
 They played solid defense and got great pitching from Ashley
Sands but couldn’t seem to string together any offense.  They
were shutout 2-0 for only the second time for the season. Congratulations
to the University of  Toronto on their first gold medal.  

 

Three Gee-Gees will graduate this season, Pam Hrick, Nicole Dunlop,
and Danna Masters. These 3 have had very strong and lasting contributions
to the team and have become synonymous with Gee Gee softball.
 They will be sorely missed.  

 

The future looks strong however, with nearly the rest of this
years squad in either their first or second year and eligible
to play for years to come.  The Gee-Gees will be back in 2006
to continue their hunt for the OIWFA Championship.  Please watch
our website for updates in the off-season.

 

Scott Searle

Assistant Coach

University of Ottawa Softball


From:  "Scott Searle" <scotts_43(at)hotmail.com> 

 

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