Gee-Gees Win Silver at OIWFA Championships

From Steph Bouchey

This past weekend the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees captured a silver medal at the Ontario Intercollegiate Women's Fastpitch Association Provincial Championships hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Heading into the weekend the Gee-Gees had a 9 - 7 record and were the third place team in the East Division. At the OIWFA banquet on Friday night Camille Dubé and Mireille Dubé were named league all-stars and Camille was awarded the top hitter award for the East Division with a .519 batting average.

In the double knockout format tournament the uOttawa had a tough draw matching up against the 14 - 1 Laurier Golden Hawks for their first game. In the top of the first inning the Gee-Gees came out strong and scored 3 runs on 3 hits, a walk, a hit by pitch and an error. Laurier responded in the bottom half of the inning and scored 2 runs to bring the score to 3 - 2. Those two runs were all that Laurier would get against the Gee-Gees tough defence and an amazing pitching performance by Camille Dubé. Dubé pitched all 7 innings and surrendering only 6 hits and striking out 4. The Gee-Gees went on to score 2 more runs in the 3rd on a single by Katrina Guenter, a triple by Vanessa Tinlin and a single by Megan Dupuis. In the 4th inning Mireille Dubé walked and came around to score on a single by Arianne Lévesque. Dubé struck out the final Laurier batter to secure the 6 - 2 upset win for the Gee-Gees.

Game two of the tournament saw the Gee-Gees facing the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (8 -8) who were also coming off of an upset win against Queen’s. The Gee-Gees again got off to a great start as they scored a pair of two out runs on a string of singles. Camille Dubé started on the mound again and pitched two scoreless innings before being replaced by Mireille Dubé. In the bottom of the 2nd the Gee-Gees loaded the bases with none out but were only able to score 1 run to make the score 3 - 0. The game ended in the bottom of the 6th inning when the Gee-Gees pushed across a pile of runs to win 7 - 0 on a walk off double by Tinlin that scored Lévesque all the way from first base. The win guaranteed the Gee-Gees a medal and put them in the undefeated game against the 9 time champion Western Mustangs. The Dubé sisters pitched a combined 5 hit shutout and the Gee-Gees stellar defence was on display including an amazing diving catch by Kaitlyn Flear in left field.

On Sunday morning after a long rain delay the Gee-Gees faced off against the Western Mustangs. Western got off to an early lead scoring 1 in the bottom of the 1st and 2 in the bottom of the 2nd. The Gee-Gees scored 1 run on a wild pitch to keep the score close. Mireille Dubé got the start on the mound and held the really tough Mustangs squad to only 5 runs. Although the game ended 5 - 1 for the Mustangs there were several Gee-Gees successes including two triples by Lévesque. Unfortunately second baseman Jessie Cameron, who was 1 for 1 in the game, was injured on a hit by pitch and was unable to continue playing. The loss meant that the Gee-Gees had to face the host team McMaster for another shot against the Mustangs in the finals.

Camille Dubé started on the mound for the Gee-Gees in what turned out to be a pitcher’s duel as both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings. In the bottom of the 3rd the Gee-Gees pushed across the first run of the game on a triple by Flear and a safety squeeze bunt by Mireille Dubé In the top of the 4th inning McMaster strung together a series of hits to knot the score up at 1 - 1. The Gee-Gees quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning by taking advantage of a 2 out error by the Marauders and following it up with a double by Dupuis and a single by Jenn MacKay to take a 3 - 1 lead. The Gee-Gees defence combined with Dubé’s pitching shut down the McMaster bats and secured the 3 - 1 win for the Gee-Gees. Dubé pitched all 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 4.

 

The final game was a rematch of the undefeated game from earlier that morning. The Western Mustangs scored early with 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The Gee-Gees answered in the top of the 2nd with a single by Lévesque, a walk by Tinlin and a bunt by Dupuis. Unfortunately that was the only run the Gee-Gees would score against the Mustangs as they would eventually go on to lose 7 - 1 and earn the silver medal. Camille Dubé pitched the complete game and offensive highlights included a 2 for 3 performance by Flear. This was the first podium finish for the Gee-Gees since their bronze medal in 2017 and was the 10th consecutive gold medal for the Western Mustangs.