Bronze Age for Gee-Gees

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 10/24/07 10:11:57 PM 
From:  Scott Searle <scottsearle at rogers.com> 


  
Subject:  Bronze Age for Gee-Gees  
  

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A Bronze Age for Gee-Gees 
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Softball team cashed in a 6th
place seed after the regular season for a Bronze Medal in the
Championship tournament. The team seemed to save its best performance
for the apex of the season as they strutted to a 4-1 record in
the OIWFA Championship tournament held at Stronach Park in London
this past weekend. 
The team opened its weekend against the 2nd seed in McMaster
University. This was an ironic match-up as the two teams split
their double-header, trading one run games only the week before.
The Gee-Gees got off to a strong start behind a walk to Marea
Modutlwa playing in her last weekend as a Gee-Gee, who promptly
stole 2nd and 3rd base only to be driven in by an Erin Durant
single. A promising inning resulted in only one run as Marauder
star, Shannon Galea settled down with a pair of strikeouts. The
Gee-Gees struck again in the 6th inning to break open a 3-3 tie
with 4 runs manufactured by a series of bunts, slaps, and steals.
Emily Ernst took the ball in a pressure packed situation and
showed her acumen in only her first year as she scattered 4 hits
and only 1 earned run over 5 innings of work. Jillian Taylor
finished the game with a bang, collecting the last 6 outs for
the Gee-Gees behind 5 straight strikeouts as the game ended 8-3.
A very solid start for the Gee-Gees as they upset one of the
top teams in the OIWFA. 
Their work was not done as they had to play York University and
the 2nd seed in the University of Toronto back-to-back on Saturday
morning. It would be a tall task for the Gee-Gees as they had
split their series with York, and dropped both games at home
to the Varsity Blues. The team once again sent Emily Ernst to
the circle who was fantastic through 5 innings in front of a
stellar Gee-Gees defense, keeping York to only 1 run. Another
rookie, Laura Skiperis delivered the crushing blow in the 6th
inning with a 2 RBI single. Another close game in the playoffs
against a resurgent York Lions squad. 
With a 2-0 record the Gee-Gees faced another very difficult opponent,
in the 2nd ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Blues
had taken both games from the Gee-Gees in the regular season
and knocked the Garnet and Grey out of the playoffs in the 2006
semi-final. The Gee-Gees once again jumped to a strong start
with a 1-0 lead and never looked back. Elissa Sivel saved her
best performance of the year for a critical game, throwing a
magnificent 5 innings allowing 1 one run on 2 hits and keeping
the potent Blues offense at bay. She also contributed a pair
of triples in her first 2 at-bats in a very clutch performance.
Jillian Taylor came in once again to shut the door and allowed
one run in the 6th and the Blues loaded the bases in the bottom
of the 7th and pushed across one run to shrink the Gee-Gee lead
to 6-3, and bringing Karlene Cooper to the plate with a chance
to win the game. She ripped a shot to dead-center field, and
Vanessa Homiak chased the ball over her shoulder and made a diving
catch against the fence bringing everyone in the park to their
feet to save the game. A fantastic effort to make one of the
best catches anyone has ever seen, with a flair for the dramatic
as well. The Gee-Gees finished the round-robin 3-0 and the top
seed in Pool B. 
On Saturday evening the team attended the first banquet in OIWFA
history and Vanessa Homiak and Jillian Taylor were awarded Team
MVP awards. Jillian was also recognized for her efforts in the
“Run for the Cure” in Ottawa for raising over $2000 to cure Breast
Cancer. Emily Ernst received recognition for throwing a no-hitter
against Queens and the entire team was congratulated for twin
efforts to Support Canadian Troops and “Strike Out Breast Cancer”
The Gee-Gees are also very proud to note that they received an
impromptu “Best Dressed Award” for their efforts at the Banquet.

On Sunday the Gee-Gees went straight to the Semi-Final match
up and waited for Laurier to defeat McMaster to find out their
opponent. The Gee-Gees again jumped to an early 1-0 lead before
Laurier piled on 4 runs to go ahead 4-1. The Gee-Gees responded
in the 5th inning to tie it up, and again Allie Rutherford was
the hero with a 2 RBI single to put the team ahead in the top
of the 7th. Allie had a fantastic weekend, and always seemed
to come up with the big hit for the Gee-Gees. It seemed like
fate was with the Gee-Gees but a a few uncharacteristic errors
highlighted their only bad inning of the weekend and cost them
a win as the Golden Hawks pushed across 3 runs to take a 7-6
victory. 
This set up a re-match for the Gee-Gees with the University of
Toronto Varsity Blues for the Bronze medal. A see-saw game between
two strong teams went back and forth as both teams exchanged
runs in the early going. Emily Ernst threw another gem for the
Gee-Gees holding the Blues to 4 runs over 6 innings as the team
took a 5-4 win for the Bronze Medal. A nice finish to a very
impressive weekend for the Gee-Gees with their 5th top 3 finish
in a row. They will seek to improve on this next year. 
 
www.eteamz.com/ottawaufastpitch 

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