Bytown Belles go 4-1 at 14th Annual Gord Marshall Memorial Tournament

This past weekend the Bytown Belles from the Ottawa area competed in the 14^th Annual Gord Marshall Memorial Tournament in Innerkip, Ontario. The Belles competed in the Tier 1 division and went undefeated in the round robin portion of the tournament.

The Belles won their Friday night game 4-0 over the Midget Brantford Bobcats. Pembroke native Jean Cardona pitched the complete game and earned MVP honours.

The Belles also won their first game Saturday morning with a gutsy 5-1 win over the University of Western Ontario. Allie Hipgrave got the win with Jean Cardona earning a save. 

In their second game on Saturday, another Pembroke native, Elissa Sivel, had the ball for the Belles against Byron. Sivel led the team to a 7-2 victory over Byron. Former University of Ottawa Shortstop Brye Corkum earned MVP honours in this game for her stellar defense. 

The Belles’ most impressive win of the day came against the Milton Bats. The Belles were down 4-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning before scoring 5 unanswered runs, including Corkum’s game winning hit. Jean Cardona started the game for the Belles and Allie Hipgrave came in to close off any hope of a comeback for the Bats. Sivel earned MVP honours for her defense in the outfield. Allegations that Erin Durant tried to steal Sivel’s award are unfounded.

The Belles finished first in the round robin and played Byron in the semi-finals. Despite several hard-hit balls, luck was not on their side and they lost a tough game 4-0. Cardona pitched the complete game for the Belles.

Milton ended up defeating Byron in the Tier 1 finals 6-3. Milverton took home the Tier Two championships with a 8-5 win over Bramalea. Cardona also won the tournament Most Valuable Pitcher Award with a 3-1 record and 34 strikeouts.

The Gord Marshall Tournament featured a total of five Tier 1 and sixteen Tier 2 teams. The Gord Marshall Memorial Tournament is a “Best in Class” tournament for women’s fastpitch. Year after year the event is well-organized, well-attended and well-umpired. The tournament has all of the luxury items, including announcing, a beer tent, silent auction and tournament-branded beer glasses for the MVP winners. If you play women’s fastpitch, or if you coach women’s fastpitch, you should really consider registering your team for the 2018 tournament. It would be great to see more Eastern Ontario teams represented at this top-notch event.