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Ontario three-peats national title in Okotoks

Baseball: Defending champions shine, Alberta earns bronze at Women’s Invitational

Championship pedigree makes a world of difference at nationals.

Ontario rode experience and a resilient team spirit to its third straight title by outlasting Quebec 6-2 to win the Baseball Canada Women’s Invitational Championship Monday morning at Okotoks’ Seaman Stadium.

“A lot of people look at our team as a favourite coming into this,” said Ontario infielder Kate Psota, a two-time national MVP with Team Canada. “But we changed some pieces this year, every year we change pieces and we still find a way to win.

“Having that experience in a final game definitely helps us out. It’s just a good mix of rookies and veterans and it seems to work for us.”

Ontario broke a 1-1 game wide open with two runs in the fourth and added three in the sixth after Brittany Chan’s two-RBI knock to centre followed by an RBI single from Ashley Stephenson.

Tylin Lee pitched five innings with Stephanie Ellis coming on in relief for the final two innings as Quebec was held in check.

“(Quebec) is a quick team, they’re going to put the ball in play, try to move runners, try to take bases on you,” Psota said. “We just had the approach today to try and keep them off balance at the plate, go a little more off-speed, do our best to keep them off bases.”

Ontario finished 4-1 in round-robin and punched its ticket to the final following a wild 18-17 victory over Alberta in extra innings Sunday morning at Tourmaline Field.

“Coming out of that was huge,” said Ontario centrefielder Emma Carr. “We didn’t have semifinals this year so we knew we had to put the pedal to the metal all weekend, every single game.

“That was a big win, we knew that would have pushed us through to the gold medal game 100 per cent. We knew we could only go up from there and that was huge adrenaline.”

Quebec slipped past Alberta 3-1 in the round-robin finale on Sunday to edge out the host province from the other berth in the championship.

Alberta went 3-2 in round-robin, qualifying for the bronze medal match against B.C.

Showcasing a flair for the dramatic it had all weekend, Alberta won 7-6 on a walk-off hit by pitch to McKinlee Kaulbach.

“We just had to put (Sunday) behind us, it was pretty heartbreaking to lose both games,” said Alberta infielder Madison Willan. “We knew we could beat B.C., they’re a good hitting team, have lots of depth in their pitching and we just pulled through again.”

A two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth saw Alberta score five runs on RBI knocks from Kelsey Lalor, Hayley Lalor, Haylee Sidor and Kaitlyn Ross.

BC responded with four runs to tie it up in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for the bases loaded walk to Kaulbach.

“We just found ways to get on base and manufacture runs,” said Kelsey Lalor, a Team Canada vet. “The more productive outs we have, the more runs we score. We did a really good job coming up clutch in a lot of situations. We had a lot of different hitters this weekend get on base, do their jobs and score runs for us.”

Three of Alberta’s four wins over the weekend were of the walk-off variety, including two triumphs on the last at-bat in round-robin over B.C. and Team Prospects.

“It’s always sweet to win a medal, it’s a national championship,” Kelsey Lalor said. “It’s not the colour we wanted, but it’s pretty cool to be the third best team in the country and to get to play here at the Okotoks Dawgs stadium and all their facilities was really nice for us.”

Carr took home the Top Hitter award after swinging the stick to a .579 batting average while driving in nine runs. Alberta shortstop Ellie Jespersen took home Top Defensive Player honours and behind the plate Ross was named Top Catcher.

“I’ve struggled with my bat before,” said Carr, a Team Canada veteran from Scarborough. “I’ve worked really hard over the past few years because I know my defence is strong, just really staying calm at the plate, knowing my situation and telling myself I can hit the ball really led me through this whole tournament.”

Despite less than ideal conditions throughout a stormy weekend, the modifications to the schedule were at a minimum and tournament chair Tanner Strangway and the Okotoks Dawgs organizers were able to get every game in.

Their efforts and those of the grounds crew didn’t go unnoticed.

“This is by far I’d say top-five facilities I’ve ever played at worldwide, never mind just Canada,” said Psota, a Team Canada stalwart for 15 years, from Burlington. “The staff was amazing, I was shocked with the amount of rain that the grounds were even playable so kudos to them. And the town is great, everything is nice and close for us.”


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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