Bronze Age for Gee-Gees
from Scott Searle
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Women's Softball team cashed in a 6th place seed after the regular season for a Bronze Medal in the Championship tournament. The team seemed to save its best performance for the apex of the season as they strutted to a 4-1 record in the OIWFA Championship tournament held at Stronach Park in London this past weekend.
The team opened its weekend against the 2nd seed in McMaster University. This was an ironic match-up as the two teams split their double-header, trading one run games only the week before. The Gee-Gees got off to a strong start behind a walk to Marea Modutlwa playing in her last weekend as a Gee-Gee, who promptly stole 2nd and 3rd base only to be driven in by an Erin Durant single. A promising inning resulted in only one run as Marauder star, Shannon Galea settled down with a pair of strikeouts. The Gee-Gees struck again in the 6th inning to break open a 3-3 tie with 4 runs manufactured by a series of bunts, slaps, and steals. Emily Ernst took the ball in a pressure packed situation and showed her acumen in only her first year as she scattered 4 hits and only 1 earned run over 5 innings of work. Jillian Taylor finished the game with a bang, collecting the last 6 outs for the Gee-Gees behind 5 straight strikeouts as the game ended 8-3. A very solid start for the Gee-Gees as they upset one of the top teams in the OIWFA.
Their work was not done as they had to play York University and the 2nd seed in the University of Toronto back-to-back on Saturday morning. It would be a tall task for the Gee-Gees as they had split their series with York, and dropped both games at home to the Varsity Blues. The team once again sent Emily Ernst to the circle who was fantastic through 5 innings in front of a stellar Gee-Gees defense, keeping York to only 1 run. Another rookie, Laura Skiperis delivered the crushing blow in the 6th inning with a 2 RBI single. Another close game in the playoffs against a resurgent York Lions squad.
With a 2-0 record the Gee-Gees faced another very difficult opponent, in the 2nd ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Blues had taken both games from the Gee-Gees in the regular season and knocked the Garnet and Grey out of the playoffs in the 2006 semi-final. The Gee-Gees once again jumped to a strong start with a 1-0 lead and never looked back. Elissa Sivel saved her best performance of the year for a critical game, throwing a magnificent 5 innings allowing 1 one run on 2 hits and keeping the potent Blues offense at bay. She also contributed a pair of triples in her first 2 at-bats in a very clutch performance. Jillian Taylor came in once again to shut the door and allowed one run in the 6th and the Blues loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th and pushed across one run to shrink the Gee-Gee lead to 6-3, and bringing Karlene Cooper to the plate with a chance to win the game. She ripped a shot to dead-center field, and Vanessa Homiak chased the ball over her shoulder and made a diving catch against the fence bringing everyone in the park to their feet to save the game. A fantastic effort to make one of the best catches anyone has ever seen, with a flair for the dramatic as well. The Gee-Gees finished the round-robin 3-0 and the top seed in Pool B.
On Saturday evening the team attended the first banquet in OIWFA history and Vanessa Homiak and Jillian Taylor were awarded Team MVP awards. Jillian was also recognized for her efforts in the “Run for the Cure” in Ottawa for raising over $2000 to cure Breast Cancer. Emily Ernst received recognition for throwing a no-hitter against Queens and the entire team was congratulated for twin efforts to Support Canadian Troops and “Strike Out Breast Cancer” The Gee-Gees are also very proud to note that they received an impromptu “Best Dressed Award” for their efforts at the Banquet.
On Sunday the Gee-Gees went straight to the Semi-Final match up and waited for Laurier to defeat McMaster to find out their opponent. The Gee-Gees again jumped to an early 1-0 lead before Laurier piled on 4 runs to go ahead 4-1. The Gee-Gees responded in the 5th inning to tie it up, and again Allie Rutherford was the hero with a 2 RBI single to put the team ahead in the top of the 7th. Allie had a fantastic weekend, and always seemed to come up with the big hit for the Gee-Gees. It seemed like fate was with the Gee-Gees but a a few uncharacteristic errors highlighted their only bad inning of the weekend and cost them a win as the Golden Hawks pushed across 3 runs to take a 7-6 victory.
This set up a re-match for the Gee-Gees with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for the Bronze medal. A see-saw game between two strong teams went back and forth as both teams exchanged runs in the early going. Emily Ernst threw another gem for the Gee-Gees holding the Blues to 4 runs over 6 innings as the team took a 5-4 win for the Bronze Medal. A nice finish to a very impressive weekend for the Gee-Gees with their 5th top 3 finish in a row. They will seek to improve on this next year.
www.eteamz.com/ottawaufastpitch
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Women's Softball team cashed in a 6th place seed after the regular season for a Bronze Medal in the Championship tournament. The team seemed to save its best performance for the apex of the season as they strutted to a 4-1 record in the OIWFA Championship tournament held at Stronach Park in London this past weekend.
The team opened its weekend against the 2nd seed in McMaster University. This was an ironic match-up as the two teams split their double-header, trading one run games only the week before. The Gee-Gees got off to a strong start behind a walk to Marea Modutlwa playing in her last weekend as a Gee-Gee, who promptly stole 2nd and 3rd base only to be driven in by an Erin Durant single. A promising inning resulted in only one run as Marauder star, Shannon Galea settled down with a pair of strikeouts. The Gee-Gees struck again in the 6th inning to break open a 3-3 tie with 4 runs manufactured by a series of bunts, slaps, and steals. Emily Ernst took the ball in a pressure packed situation and showed her acumen in only her first year as she scattered 4 hits and only 1 earned run over 5 innings of work. Jillian Taylor finished the game with a bang, collecting the last 6 outs for the Gee-Gees behind 5 straight strikeouts as the game ended 8-3. A very solid start for the Gee-Gees as they upset one of the top teams in the OIWFA.
Their work was not done as they had to play York University and the 2nd seed in the University of Toronto back-to-back on Saturday morning. It would be a tall task for the Gee-Gees as they had split their series with York, and dropped both games at home to the Varsity Blues. The team once again sent Emily Ernst to the circle who was fantastic through 5 innings in front of a stellar Gee-Gees defense, keeping York to only 1 run. Another rookie, Laura Skiperis delivered the crushing blow in the 6th inning with a 2 RBI single. Another close game in the playoffs against a resurgent York Lions squad.
With a 2-0 record the Gee-Gees faced another very difficult opponent, in the 2nd ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Blues had taken both games from the Gee-Gees in the regular season and knocked the Garnet and Grey out of the playoffs in the 2006 semi-final. The Gee-Gees once again jumped to a strong start with a 1-0 lead and never looked back. Elissa Sivel saved her best performance of the year for a critical game, throwing a magnificent 5 innings allowing 1 one run on 2 hits and keeping the potent Blues offense at bay. She also contributed a pair of triples in her first 2 at-bats in a very clutch performance. Jillian Taylor came in once again to shut the door and allowed one run in the 6th and the Blues loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th and pushed across one run to shrink the Gee-Gee lead to 6-3, and bringing Karlene Cooper to the plate with a chance to win the game. She ripped a shot to dead-center field, and Vanessa Homiak chased the ball over her shoulder and made a diving catch against the fence bringing everyone in the park to their feet to save the game. A fantastic effort to make one of the best catches anyone has ever seen, with a flair for the dramatic as well. The Gee-Gees finished the round-robin 3-0 and the top seed in Pool B.
On Saturday evening the team attended the first banquet in OIWFA history and Vanessa Homiak and Jillian Taylor were awarded Team MVP awards. Jillian was also recognized for her efforts in the “Run for the Cure” in Ottawa for raising over $2000 to cure Breast Cancer. Emily Ernst received recognition for throwing a no-hitter against Queens and the entire team was congratulated for twin efforts to Support Canadian Troops and “Strike Out Breast Cancer” The Gee-Gees are also very proud to note that they received an impromptu “Best Dressed Award” for their efforts at the Banquet.
On Sunday the Gee-Gees went straight to the Semi-Final match up and waited for Laurier to defeat McMaster to find out their opponent. The Gee-Gees again jumped to an early 1-0 lead before Laurier piled on 4 runs to go ahead 4-1. The Gee-Gees responded in the 5th inning to tie it up, and again Allie Rutherford was the hero with a 2 RBI single to put the team ahead in the top of the 7th. Allie had a fantastic weekend, and always seemed to come up with the big hit for the Gee-Gees. It seemed like fate was with the Gee-Gees but a a few uncharacteristic errors highlighted their only bad inning of the weekend and cost them a win as the Golden Hawks pushed across 3 runs to take a 7-6 victory.
This set up a re-match for the Gee-Gees with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for the Bronze medal. A see-saw game between two strong teams went back and forth as both teams exchanged runs in the early going. Emily Ernst threw another gem for the Gee-Gees holding the Blues to 4 runs over 6 innings as the team took a 5-4 win for the Bronze Medal. A nice finish to a very impressive weekend for the Gee-Gees with their 5th top 3 finish in a row. They will seek to improve on this next year.
www.eteamz.com/ottawaufastpitch
posted by fitzroyfastball | 10/27/2007 01:35:00 pm
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