OCAA Women's Fastball Championships

Tue Oct 16 16:21:27 EDT 2007

Received: 10/16/07 2:11:23 PM 
From:  "Mal Swift" <malswift(at)rogers.com> 

Subject:  OCAA Women's Fastball Championships  

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Oshawa, ON

DURHAM LORDS MEDIA RELEASE

October 16

LORDS FASTBALL SET TO HOST OCAA WOMEN’S FASTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Oshawa - The top four Women’s Fastball teams in the Ontario Colleges
Athletic Association (OCAA) will descend on Oshawa this weekend
as Durham College is set to host the 2007 Women’s Fastball Championship
at Durham Fields from October 19-20, 2007.

This double knockout championship will highlight the top four
teams from the regular season. The defending champion and host
college Durham Lords (9-1) will kick things off on Friday morning
when they play the Conestoga Condors (6-4) at 11:00 am, while
the second game of the first round will feature the regular season
champion St. Clair Saints (9-1) versus the Mohawk Mountaineers
(3-7) at 1:00 pm. 

Entering as the number two seed are the defending champions,
Durham Lords, who finished the season with a 9-1 record. The
Lords are led once again by 2006 Player of the Year, Danielle
Smith (Oshawa). Smith had a successful sophomore season posting
an 8-1 record with a 1.21 ERA, while finishing tied for second
in OCAA hitting with a .520 batting average. Veteran team-mates
Vanessa Chaborek (Windsor) and Amanda Ellison (Listowel) also
had fine seasons at the plate combining for a total of 20 runs
and 13 RBI’s. The Lord’s women’s fastball program has built one
of the most accomplished resumes in the OCAA finishing on the
medal podium 23-times in the last 25-years of play, collecting
13 provincial titles. The Lords will look to win their second
consecutive OCAA gold medal in front of their hometown crowd
as they are set to open the Championship facing the Conestoga
Condors at 11:00 am.

The St. Clair Saints (Windsor) enter the championship as the
number one seed after clinching their first ever regular season
title with a 9-1 record, scoring a league high 97 runs while
holding opponents just 13 runs scored. The Saints have one of
the most feared pitching staff’s in the OCAA, as the duo of Kandice
Bagley (5-0) and Candice Gatecliffe (3-1) were first and second
in ERA in the league respectively. Second year infielder Trisha
Whaley is the leader of the Saints’ offence as she won the OCAA
batting title with an average of .571. The Saints offence was
in-sync all year as six of the top ten hitters in the league
play for St. Clair. The Saints won their first and only OCAA
Championship in 2005, putting an end to the Durham Lords streak
of three consecutive titles. The Saints are set to open the 2007
Championship on Friday against the number four-seeded Mohawk
Mountaineers at 1:00 pm.

St. Clair and Durham both finished the season with matching 9-1
records. The two teams split their season series, each winning
by a run. The regular season title was award to St. Clair based
on run differential against the next highest ranked team, the
Conestoga Condors. St. Clair had a run differential of +24 while
Durham was +22. St. Clair and Durham have built quite the rivalry
in women’s fastball as they have met in the gold medal game in
each of the past two championships, with St. Clair winning in
2005 and Durham winning in 2006.

The number three seed Conestoga Condors (Kitchener) got off to
a quick start winning six of their first seven games of the regular
season and posted their first winning record since 1999. Much
of the tremendous turnaround of the program can be attributed
to the 2006 Coach of the Year Fawn Day. Day has her player’s
motivated and playing hard game in and out. Another reason for
the turnaround was the performance of second year short-stop
Melissa Voisin. With an average of .520, Voisin finished the
year tied for second in batting average. The Condors also have
a deep pitching rotation as veterans Laura Matheson, Pamela Paterson
and Lindsay Bosomworth all pitched in multiple games this season.
The Condors are in search of their sixth Championship title and
have collected the fourth most OCAA medals in women’s fastball
history with eleven. Conestoga opens the Championship against
the host Durham Lords at 11:00 am on Friday.     

The Mohawk Mountaineers (Hamilton) closed out the regular season
with a 3-7 record, securing the fourth and final playoff spot
this past week after defeating the Seneca Sting 7-1. The game
was a must win for Mohawk’s playoff hopes and the Mountaineers
pulled it off behind winning pitcher Jenny Koschanow’s seven
strikeouts, raising her career total to 190 over three seasons.
Jenny Koschanow saw the majority of the pitching action this
season with the departure of Katie Westoby. Koschanow took the
reins and ran with the job as she finished in second in the league
in strikeouts and innings pitched. The Mountaineers offence was
strengthened with the addition of rookies Katie Mattice and Ellaina
Hogg, who finished the season ranked eighth and ninth respectively
in OCAA batting average. In the past 15 years, the women’s fastball
program at Mohawk has finished in the top three 13 times with
one gold and twelve bronze medals. 

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE:
Thursday, October 18, 2007
OCAA Championship Awards Banquet: Holiday Inn, Oshawa – 7:00pm

Friday, October 19, 2007
Game 1: Durham vs. Conestoga – 11:00am

Game 2: St. Clair vs. Mohawk – 1:00pm

Game 3: Losers of Games 1 and 2 – 3:00pm

Game 4: Winners of Games 1 and 2 – 5:00pm 

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Bronze Medal Game: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 - 11:00am

*Loser awarded Bronze, winner advances to Gold Medal Round

Gold Medal Game #1: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Bronze Medal
Game – 1:00pm

Gold Medal Game #2: If Necessary – 3:00pm

A complete championship schedule including game times and results
will be available online at the OCAA website: www.ocaa.com. 

For Further Information:

Cory Lusted

Sports Information & Marketing Officer

Athletic Department @ Durham College/UOIT

cory.lusted(at)dc-uoit.ca

(905) 721-3111 x. 2784

www.durhamlords.com

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