HAMILTON PONTIACS
CAPTURE THE GOLD
MEDAL AT THE PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
The Hamilton Pontiacs captured the
Gold Medal at the Provincial Championships hosted in Chepstow the weekend of
August 1st to 3rd going undefeated in the double-knockout
tournament. Dawn
Vanderhorst took home the Top Pitcher award for the
tournament. The win allows the Pontiacs to return to
defend their Gold Medal at the Eastern Canadian Championships to be held in St. Basile, Quebec from August 21 – 24th.
The Pontiacs started the tournament with a 5 to 0
win against the Byron Intermediates with Dawn
Vanderhorst pitching a one-hitter. Elizabeth Verbeem
started off the game with a single with Christine
Bassett tripling in the first run of the game. Riekie Dutcher
then followed with a run scoring single to give the Pontiacs a 2 to 0 lead and then stole second,
scoring on a fielder’s choice by Erin Forman. The score remained 3 to 0 until the third
inning when Elizabeth Verbeem again
started the inning with a single, stole second base and then scored on a
fielder’s choice by Riekie Dutcher. Erin Forman then started off the fourth
inning with a lead-off home run to build the score to 5 to 0. Dawn Vanderhorst
struck out 12 of the 22 batters she faced.
In the next game, the Pontiacs came up against
their hometown rival Hamilton Hurricanes and won a hard-fought 4 to 2 decision. Dawn Vanderhorst
again took the mound and pitched a 4 hitter with 4 strikeouts. The Pontiacs took the lead in
the 2nd inning on a single by Kathy Sitak who scored on a basehit by Elizabeth Verbeem. The Hurricanes quickly tied up the score in
the 3rd inning on a basehit and three
errors by the Pontiacs. The Pontiacs
again took the lead in the 5th inning on a basehit
by Elizabeth Verbeem followed by a
run scoring single by Kris Gordon. But
the Hurricanes fought back in the bottom half of the inning to again tie the
score on a basehit and a run scoring double by Amanda
Black. The score remained tied until the
7th inning when Christine Bassett
started the inning off with a base hit followed by Riekie
Dutcher and then Kris Gordon scored both runners on a 2 rbi single. The Hurricanes ended up in 4th
position in the tournament. Other
singles in the game from the Pontiacs
came from Kathy Sitak and Dianne Trask.
That moved the Pontiacs into a key game which decided which
team was guaranteed a spot into the Eastern Canadians. The Pontiacs defeated the Brantford Intermediates
3 to 2 in a game which went back and forth throughout. Brantford
took the lead in the 2nd inning on 3 straight hits. The Pontiacs
fought back and tied the score in the bottom of the 4th inning on a
single by Erin Forman and an rbi double by Jenny Kells.
In the 6th inning, Brantford
fought back to again take a one run lead on an error by the Pontiacs and 3 successive singles. But the Pontiacs
again fought back in the bottom of the 6th when Riekie Dutcher got on base on an error, followed by
Erin Forman’s single and then Jenny Kells
again plated two runs with a single to take the lead. Jenny Kells
also pitched the win giving up 7 hits and striking out one. Dawn Vanderhorst
came into the game in the last inning for one inning of relief. Brantford
ended up with the bronze medal on the weekend finishing in 3rd.
In the final game of the tournament,
the Pontiacs
defeated the Chepstow Intermediates 5 to 1 to take home the gold and award the
Silver to Chepstow. The Pontiacs took the lead in the first inning
with Elizabeth Verbeem leading off
with a single, stealing second base and scoring on Riekie
Dutcher’s
ground rule double. Erin Forman then
singled in Riekie to give the Pontiacs
a 2 to 0 lead. The game remained that
way until the 6th inning when Chepstow fought back with a lead-off
single which scored on two Pontiac
errors. In the bottom of the 6th,
the Pontiacs made up for the errors by scoring 3 runs on singles by Jenny Kells (with pinch running by Kelly Litwiller), Lori Martin, Dianne
Trask and Elizabeth Verbeem. Jenny Kells
pitched the win giving up 6 hits and striking out two. Kira
Waghorn also singled during the game. Both teams will be representing Ontario in the Eastern
Canadians.
Friday, Aug. 1st 7:00 p.m. Byron Home 5 0
Saturday, Aug. 2nd 3:00 p.m. Hamilton
Hurricanes Home 4 2
Saturday, Aug. 2nd
7:00 p.m. Brantford Intermed. Home 3 2
Sunday, Aug. 3rd
1:00
p.m. Chepstow Intermed. Home
5 1