HAMILTON PONTIACS
TAKE GOLD AT THE EASTERN CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS IN QUEBEC
After winning the Gold Medal
in the Province
of Ontario, the Hamilton
Pontiacs “three-peated” at the Eastern Canadian Championships completing their
season with a Gold Medal Championship. Dawn Vanderhorst took home the Top Pitcher award for
the weekend.
In the round robin part of
the tournament, the Pontiacs
faced their home province Silver Medal winners first – the Chepstow Diamonds –
and were defeated 3 to 2. Chepstow quickly took the lead in the
visitor’s half of the first inning by scoring 2 runs on three hits and a
sacrifice bunt. Chepstow then increased
their lead to 3 to 0 in the second inning on one hit and two Pontiac errors. The Pontiacs then settled down defensively behind
the pitching of Jenny Kells. At the
plate, in the fourth inning, Christine Bassett
singled and Kris Gordon followed up with a home run to score the Pontiacs 2 runs.
The next game saw the two
finalist teams from last year’s Eastern Canadian Championship facing each other
and the Pontiacs
defeated Lac St. Louis 2 to 0. Dawn Vanderhorst pitched the win striking out 10 and
giving up 4 hits. The Pontiacs scored their first run on a walk by Elizabeth Verbeem, sacrifice bunt by Erin Forman and
a single by Riekie Dutcher in the 5th
inning. In the 6th inning,
Jess Mancini singled to start the inning, with Dawn
Vanderhorst sacrificing her to second base and Lori Martin
singling her in to score the second run.
In the third game of the
round robin portion of the tournament, the Pontiacs came up against the PEI Subway Sluggers and defeated them 11 to 2
behind the pitching of Amanda Marsh. Dianne Trask, Amanda Marsh, and Kira Waghorn all scored two runs during the game
with Lori Kostur going 2 for 2 and
scoring one run and Krissy Sebastian
going 1 for 1.
In the next game of the
round robin, the Pontiacs
defeated the host team, Rive-Sud by a score of 8 to 1 behind the pitching of Dawn Vanderhorst.
Erin Forman led at the plate with two
runs scored, going 3 for 3 with a triple.
Kathy Sitak also had a good day at the plate going 2 for 2 with a walk,
scoring twice and having 2 rbi’s. Elizabeth Verbeem was also 3 for 4 at the plate and
scored once.
The Pontiacs then moved onto
the final game of the round robin versus Portneuf and, behind the
pitching of Jenny Kells, won the game by a score of 3 to 2. The Pontiacs
took a quick lead in the bottom half of the first inning on a triple by Riekie Dutcher and a follow-up rbi single by Kris
Gordon. Portneuf then tied the game in
the top of the 3rd inning and went ahead in the top of the 4th
by a score of 2 to 1. The Pontiacs then moved ahead
on a double by Christine Bassett, a
walk to Riekie Dutcher and a two rbi
single by Kris Gordon. The Pontiacs then tightened
up defensively to move into the playoff round.
In the first round of the
playoffs, the Pontiacs
again faced their Ontario
rivals – the Chepstow Diamonds. The game
was a defensive struggle with the Pontiac bats remaining silent and recording 8
strikeouts until the 6th inning when Kathy Sitak started the inning
off with a single, Lori Kostur then
followed with a bunt single, and Christine Bassett
with a full count at bat doubled in the two runs to break the shutout. Dawn Vanderhorst
pitched the win. The Pontiacs, with the win, moved onto the
championship game while Chepstow moved onto the Bronze/Silver game.
The Championship game was a
tight defensive struggle and went into 13 innings! Portneuf took a 2 to 0 lead in the 2nd
inning on two hits and a Pontiac error.
The Pontiacs
quickly fought back with a run in the bottom of the inning scored by Erin
Forman on a walk, a hit by Jess Mancini and aggressive baserunning. In the 4th inning the Pontiacs went ahead on a
hit by Kris Gordon, followed by another by Erin Forman and a two out two rbi
single by Kathy Sitak. This 3 to 2 lead
held until the 6th inning when Portneuf tied the game on a hit, a
sacrifice bunt and a run scoring single.
The game then continued into overtime (no international tie-breaker) and
it was a defensive struggle on both sides of the field. Both teams had opportunities to score with
runners getting to third base in a few innings but the defenses held. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th
inning with two out, Erin Forman hit a line shot to the right field line and
beat the relay throw home for a home run to plate the winning run.
Friday, Aug. 22 2:00
p.m. Chepstow Home 2 3
Friday, Aug. 22 5:00
p.m. Lac St. Louis Home 2 0
Saturday, Aug. 23 10:00
a.m. PEI
Subway Sluggers Home
11 2
Saturday, Aug. 23 2:00
p.m. Rive-Sud Away 8 1
Saturday, Aug. 23 6:00
p.m. Portneuf Home 3 2
Finished in the playoff round
Saturday, Aug. 23 8:00
p.m. Chepstow Away 2 0
Sunday, Aug. 24 1:00
p.m. Portneuf Home 4 3
Won Gold! Portneuf
– Silver; Chepstow – Bronze.