CONESTOGA 5, DURHAM 3

OSHAWA, Ont. - With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the Conestoga Condors women's softball team came up with two big road victories over the Durham Lords Tuesday night.

It was a good night for offence as the teams combined for 24 runs with Conestoga picking up 9-7 and 5-3 wins.

Durham (9-5) sits in third place in the OCAA standings with the Condors in fifth place at 7-9 record.

Brittany Bell, a former Durham Lord, hit a clutch home run for the Condors in a five-run second inning of Game 1 that proved to be the difference. Bell finished the game going 2-for-3 at the plate with one run and three RBIs.

Trailing 8-1 after four innings, Durham would eventually cut the lead to just two runs but that is as close as they would get.

Cassidy Gallant (Bowmanville, Ont.) went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and one run scored while teammates Rebecca Ropp (Milverton, Ont.) and Caitlyn Omelanchuk (Whitby, Ont.) had two hits apiece.

On the mound, Omelanchuk settled down after the second inning as she pitched the complete game in the losing effort.

In Game 2, Durham starting pitcher Megan McDonald (Brampton, Ont.) did a good job of limiting the number of Conestoga hits, unfortunately three of them were for extra bases. Conestoga would break a 3-3 deadlock with two runs in the fourth inning and shut down Durham's offence the rest of the way for the sweep.

Durham managed to string together seven hits, all of which were singles.

The Lords will now turn their attention to the CCSA national championship that begins on Friday morning at 10 a.m. Durham will take on the St. Clair Saints at Durham Field in the opening game of the championship.

Source: Durham College