Over the weekend the
Lasalle Athletics Mite 10U fastpitch team captured Provincal Gold in the Mite
Division at the Ontario PWSA Championships held in Lasalle, Ontario.
The girls had a flare
for the dramatic with an exciting come from behind 10-9 win in the semi’s to
defeat the top ranked Guelph Gators a team who they had already lost to 3 times
this season. Guelph as expected would not go away and fought their way
back to the championship and the girls for the 2nd time that day, then went on
to beat them 7-3 in the final of the double elimination tournament.
Defensively Reese Grondin, Kelsey Antonucci, Lila MacDonald and Samantha Scott were a wall, letting nothing get by them.
The offence was lead by Kalyssa Gendreau, Kate MacNeil, Gabby Burgon-Bulat, Melanie Owen and Hailey Miller with many key hits in the most critical moments.
Down 9-8 in the semi final, Kalyssa hit a game tying home run with two outs on an 0-2 count. Next both Lila and Gabby followed that up by getting on base before Hailey layed down the perfect bunt and beat it out while Lila scored from 3rd to put an end to an exciting game.
In the final, the offense was patient drawing walks when necessary, loading the bases before Melanie hit a hard shot to shortstop which forced Guelph into a number of defensive lapses that cleared the bases.
The defense as it has been most of the year was extremely strong and pitching was stellar with Reese pitching a perfect 1st inning before giving way to Cayleigh Wharram in the 2nd. With 2 outs in the 2nd and the bases juiced, Cayleigh took over inheriting a 3-1 count and promptly threw 2 straight strikes to end the inning. From there Kalyssa and Cayleigh took turns mowing down the Guelph hitters as Kalyssa had her change-up working well going through the heart of the order more than once. Going into the final inning, the girls decided one last time to make things interesting. With a couple of runs in, the bases again juiced, 1 out and the tying run coming to the plate, Kalyssa gave way one last time to Cayleigh. Cayleigh then proceeded to strike out the 1st batter she faced before getting the final batter to ground to 2nd base where Lila calmly scooped it up and threw out the runner at 1st to close out the championship.
The girls came together as a team on the final weekend of their season with everyone contributing in an amazing championship run. The coaching staff was so proud of this group as they steadily improved over the course of the season and peaked at the right time, always putting the team ahead of themselves.
Thanks for a fantastic season girls and allowing us to be a part of it. Last but not least, way to finish strong!!!!
Coach Jay Gendreau
Coach Jeff Grondin
Coach Scott MacDonald
Coach Jay Wharram