HAWKS WIN THREE STRAIGHT ELIMINATION GAMES TO WIN GOLD
October 20, 2013
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- For the second consecutive season, the Humber Hawks are Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) women's fastball champions.
Facing elimination from the double-knockout tournament after a Friday loss, Humber won three consecutive games, including two against regular-season champion St. Clair College, to win the title. Teams are eliminated from the competition after their second loss.
Humber College played host to the 2013 OCAA Women's Fastball Championship at Wildwood Park in Mississauga, Ont. The event, originally scheduled for two days, was extended to Sunday due to inclement weather.
The Hawks opened the tournament with a convincing 14-3 win over Durham College but suffered a 6-1 setback to St. Clair, which sent the Saints directly into the OCAA gold medal game.
Humber was relegated to take on Conestoga College in a Saturday morning semi-final with the winner getting another opportunity against St. Clair for the championship. Conestoga lost to St. Clair 8-2 in its opening game, then eliminated Durham by a 4-3 count. The win was significant as Durham was sent home without an OCAA medal for the first time in 17 seasons.
The Hawks shut out Conestoga 3-0 to advance to their third gold medal game in three seasons. Conestoga was awarded the OCAA bronze medal, its first medal since earning bronze in 2001.
Humber still had no margin for error, needing two victories against the Saints to repeat as champions. The Hawks took care of business with a 6-2 win, forcing a second gold medal game. But Mother Nature had other plans, with the rain postponing the winner-take-all game until Sunday.
The extra time seemed to help St. Clair in the early going as it jumped out to a 5-0 lead. But Humber rallied with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, ultimately sending the game into an extra inning. With runners at the corners, Jacqueline O'Quinn (Etobicoke) tagged the ball just out of the reach of the St. Clair second baseman, easily scoring the championship-winning run.
Jacqueline's twin sister Jessica O'Quinn (Etobicoke) was named MVP of the tournament. Humber teammate Keira Lansley (Newmarket), St. Clair's Alexa Georgiou (Windsor) and Skyler-Dawn Patteson (Guelph), Conestoga's Lauren Ruf (Cambridge) and Kayla Gammie (Guelph) of Durham were named to the tournament all-star team.
Humber had a regular season record of 12-3, two games behind first-place St. Clair (14-1). In three seasons of existence, Humber's fastball team has two gold and one silver medal.
It was St. Clair's first OCAA silver medal in three seasons following back-to-back bronze medals. The Saints have now medaled in nine straight seasons, the longest active streak in OCAA.
