DURHAM 10, FANSHAWE 3

KITCHENER, Ont. - For the second straight year the Durham College women's softball team will play in the gold medal game after going 2-0 on day one of the OCAA championship.

First pitch for the gold medal game will be at 2 p.m. in Kitchener as the Lords will take on the winner of the Fanshawe/St. Clair semifinal. The Lords will have two chances to earn gold if necessary as the championship is a double-knockout format.

Just over a week ago, the Lords spot in the championship was in jeopardy as they sat in fifth place in the conference standings. Since then, the team has been red hot having won nine of their last ten games to advance to the championship final.

Durham will be looking to repeat their 2015 championship performance when they beat Humber 7-3 in the gold medal game to go on and win their OCAA leading 17th softball title.

Samantha MacCallum (Whitby, Ont.) got the Lords championship off to a great start as they beat the Fanshawe Falcons 10-3. The Lords veteran pitched a complete game allowing just two earned runs while going 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and three RBIs, earning her the player of the game award.

Also having a big day at the plate were Caleigh Coels (Duncan, B.C.) and Jaimie Clarke (Elmvale, Ont.) who each went 3-for-4 and combined for four runs and six RBIs.

The Lords shot out to a 9-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning as they knocked around former Lord Lydia Kalbfleisch for six earned runs on 11 hits.

Game 2 was a much different story as it was the first place St. Clair Saints jumping out to a 4-0 lead. The Lords came back with four runs in the fifth and four more in the top of the seventh to pull off the upset.

For the second-straight game, Coels had three hits as she was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Marina Christie (Pickering, Ont.) also had a three-hit night as she earned player of the game honours.

Ashley Black (Waterloo, Ont.) ended up replacing Sara Pesonen (Mississauga, Ont.) in the first inning and allowed two earned runs in seven innings of work.

Source: Durham College