Bytown Belles Finish Third at PWSA Women’s Open Championships
By Erin Durant
The Bytown Belles finished third this past weekend at the Provincial Women’s Softball Association Women’s Open tournament. The Bytown Belles is made up of a veteran squad of former university athletes. The Belles were joined this season by some much-needed youth with the addition of eighteen year old pitcher Olivia Elliott who is entering her second year at St. Clair College. Elliott would prove to be a key addition to the Belles in the absence of pitcher Jean Cardona who was unavailable for the tournament.
The Belles finished the round robin last in Pool B, losing blow out games to both Toronto Fastpitch and Kars Senior (comprised of athletes from the defending National Championship winning Whitby Eagles team). Ottawa umpires will be surprised to hear that Belles outfielder Erin Durant made her PWSA pitching debut against Kars in an effort to save Elliott and veteran pitcher Elissa Sivel for a long day of back-to-back games on Sunday.
The Belles turned things around brilliantly on Sunday. Sivel and Elliott both pitched in an 11-6 win over Enniskillen (the top seed in Pool A) with Sivel getting the win and with offensive contributions from everyone in the lineup. The Belles then knocked off a very strong Mississauga team (the second seed in Pool B) 10-2 which featured a three run inside the park homerun by Amy Olivier (alumni and coach of Laurier University Softball). Sivel started the game and left after attempting to battle through being hit on her pitching arm with a line drive. Elliott finished the game, also battling an injury. The win over Mississauga guaranteed the Belles third place.
The Belles then faced Toronto Fastpitch and Canada Elite Team pitcher Sierra Bertrand who effectively shut down the Belles offence. Elliott started the game for the Belles and lasted a strong 4 innings before leaving the game due to injury. With no pitchers remaining, Durant would finish the game (earning her first, and hopefully last, career strikeout). The Belles would lose the game 9-1 in six innings.
Toronto Fastpitch went on to defeat Kars Senior 5-4 after 8 innings in the gold medal game. Kars will be the only Ontario team attending the upcoming Canadian Championships in Saskatoon.
Two Belles players received individual awards for their statistics during the playoff round. Stephanie Manson (Former University of Windsor athlete and current Laurier Softball Coach and OIWFA Vice-President) received the top batter award for appearing in all three playoff games, with 10 plate appearances and a batting average of .750 (along with 2 RBIs, 3 runs scored, a walk and a sacrifice bunt). Elliott received top pitching honours after appearing in all three playoff games on Sunday (13 innings), striking out 8 and achieving an ERA of 3.75.
The Belles were coached by Scott Searle, Matt Allen, Kevin Fagg and Shawn Trudeau. We would like to thank the coaches for their time and energy this season – especially Shawn who clearly had no idea what he was getting himself into!
The Bytown Belles finished third this past weekend at the Provincial Women’s Softball Association Women’s Open tournament. The Bytown Belles is made up of a veteran squad of former university athletes. The Belles were joined this season by some much-needed youth with the addition of eighteen year old pitcher Olivia Elliott who is entering her second year at St. Clair College. Elliott would prove to be a key addition to the Belles in the absence of pitcher Jean Cardona who was unavailable for the tournament.
The Belles finished the round robin last in Pool B, losing blow out games to both Toronto Fastpitch and Kars Senior (comprised of athletes from the defending National Championship winning Whitby Eagles team). Ottawa umpires will be surprised to hear that Belles outfielder Erin Durant made her PWSA pitching debut against Kars in an effort to save Elliott and veteran pitcher Elissa Sivel for a long day of back-to-back games on Sunday.
The Belles turned things around brilliantly on Sunday. Sivel and Elliott both pitched in an 11-6 win over Enniskillen (the top seed in Pool A) with Sivel getting the win and with offensive contributions from everyone in the lineup. The Belles then knocked off a very strong Mississauga team (the second seed in Pool B) 10-2 which featured a three run inside the park homerun by Amy Olivier (alumni and coach of Laurier University Softball). Sivel started the game and left after attempting to battle through being hit on her pitching arm with a line drive. Elliott finished the game, also battling an injury. The win over Mississauga guaranteed the Belles third place.
The Belles then faced Toronto Fastpitch and Canada Elite Team pitcher Sierra Bertrand who effectively shut down the Belles offence. Elliott started the game for the Belles and lasted a strong 4 innings before leaving the game due to injury. With no pitchers remaining, Durant would finish the game (earning her first, and hopefully last, career strikeout). The Belles would lose the game 9-1 in six innings.
Toronto Fastpitch went on to defeat Kars Senior 5-4 after 8 innings in the gold medal game. Kars will be the only Ontario team attending the upcoming Canadian Championships in Saskatoon.
Two Belles players received individual awards for their statistics during the playoff round. Stephanie Manson (Former University of Windsor athlete and current Laurier Softball Coach and OIWFA Vice-President) received the top batter award for appearing in all three playoff games, with 10 plate appearances and a batting average of .750 (along with 2 RBIs, 3 runs scored, a walk and a sacrifice bunt). Elliott received top pitching honours after appearing in all three playoff games on Sunday (13 innings), striking out 8 and achieving an ERA of 3.75.
The Belles were coached by Scott Searle, Matt Allen, Kevin Fagg and Shawn Trudeau. We would like to thank the coaches for their time and energy this season – especially Shawn who clearly had no idea what he was getting himself into!
Labels: Women's
posted by fitzroyfastball | 8/01/2018 08:46:00 am
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