The St. Clair College Women's Softball team were crowned National Champions on Sunday for the fourth time in program history at the Canadian Collegiate Softball Association Championship hosted by Durham College in Oshawa.
The Saints began pool play on Friday morning with a 10-4 win over the University of British Columbia Okanagan (Kelowna). St. Clair starting pitcher Danna Juarez (Airdrie, AB) was named Player of the Game after throwing a complete game where she struck out 10 batters. Centerfielder Taylor Kana (Springfield, ON/East Elgin) led the Saints offensively going 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and three RBI. Shortstop Madison Phillips (Conestogo, ON/Elmira) went 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run to go with a walk while catcher Ashley Marchand (Fergus, ON/Centre Wellington) was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI for St. Clair.
Later that evening the Saints won in lopsided fashion by a score of 14-3 over the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK) with first baseman Ada Umerah (Maple, ON/Hodan Nalayeh) earning Player of the Game honours after going 3-for-5 including a home run and finishing with four RBI. Phillips, Marchand and Zahnyah Jackson (Brampton, ON/St. Edmund Campion) each had two hits and an RBI apiece for St. Clair as Micayla Dales (Walkerton, ON/Sacred Heart) collected the pitching win, throwing seven strong innings and striking out five batters.
St. Clair's only blemish on the weekend came Saturday morning when they fell 4-3 to the University of Western Ontario (London). Entering the sixth inning they led 3-1 but some Mustang hits found the narrowest of holes and the Saints went scoreless in the seventh. Phillips was named St. Clair's Player of the Game after going 3-for-4 and scoring a run while Umerah cleared fence for her second home run of the championship. The Saints finished pool play with a 2-1 record via tiebreaker, advancing to the semi-finals as the top seed in their group to await the quarterfinal winner from Saturday night. Umerah and Phillips were named to the Championship All-Star team for St. Clair following completion of the pool play round.
Jaurez was masterful again on the pitching strip in St. Clair's 3-0 semi-final shutout victory over host Durham College Sunday morning, throwing a complete game while spreading out four hits, two walks and fanning six batters to collect her second Player of the Game Award of the tournament. Kana had two hits, as did Phillips, who drove in a run with a triple to pace the Saints offensively. Humber Polytechnic (Etobicoke) advanced to the gold medal final with a no-hit win over Laurier (Waterloo) in the other semi-final.
In the championship contest, the teams played scoreless for three innings when Humber pushed across four runs in the fourth inning to force St. Clair starting pitcher Kamryn Hazell (Chatham, ON/Chatham-Kent) – who had 6 strikeouts to that point – out of the game. Dales pitched until the seventh for the Saints, who picked away at the lead, scoring a single run in the fourth and fifth innings to keep within striking distance. Jaurez came on to throw a scoreless top of the seventh inning which set up the heroics in the bottom half.
St. Clair loaded the bases on two hits and a walk but were down to their last out when Jackson stepped to the plate, who quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count on a pair of foul balls. But her next swing beat the Humber center fielder to the fence for a double that cleared the bases, which included the winning walk-off run sliding safely ahead of the late throw and a miraculous 5-4 victory. Watch the big moment here.
For her efforts, Jackson was named the Player of the Game and the Championship Most Valuable Player in the post-game ceremonies.
The St. Clair Women's Softball team will now complete their OCAA regular season with a road game on Tuesday at Lambton College (Sarnia) before returning home Saturday for Senior Day and a doubleheader against Conestoga College (Kitchener).
The Saints will also host the OCAA Championship tournament Oct. 22-24 which will decide the Provincial Championship at the campus SportsPark diamond.
