The Saugeen Golf Club U13 PWSA Saugeen Shores Sting travelled to Brampton this past weekend to begin their 2023 season to participate in the annual Brampton Blazers Blast tournament. It was a beautiful weekend for some baseball and what a weekend it was!
Photos by Sarah Rozee
Middle Row L-R: Maelle Wiles, Brooke Lamont, Peyton Myatt, Elliana Cameron, Madeline Thede,
Back row L-R (standing): Coach Melanie Harris, Lane Topham, Claire Parker, Gwen Doherty, Amelia Steele, Chloe McKinnon, Coach Matt Lamont
Back: Head Coach Jeff Myatt
The team started off on Friday versus the host team, Brampton Blazers Junior squad. The combination of Elliana Cameron, Peyton Myatt, and Brooke Lamont combined for a six hitter. But walks and pass balls allowed the blazer team to score 14 runs as the Sting took their first loss of the season 14-9. Offensively, seven different players each had a hit while Chloe Mckinnon tore up the bases stealing four bases and scoring twice.
The second game on Saturday morning, saw the squad take on the Mississauga Junior Tigers. To say that the team had dusted off the winter rust on Friday evening is a bit of an understatement as the girls had an offensive explosion with 16 runs scored, led by Claire Parker, who hit a home run with four RBIs, and Lane Topham who had two hits and four RBIs. On the mound, Cameron and Myatt combined for a two hitter striking out five in the 16 to 5 win.
Game three on Saturday saw the Sting take on the East Gwillimbury Rise. The pitchers for the Sting continued to shine as Peyton Myatt struck out six batters while Elliana Cameron struck out three in a combined four Hitter in the Sting’s second win of the day 13-11. Offensively the team was led by two hit performances from Penelope Martin, Brooke Lamont and Lane Topham.
The Sting played their final game of the day on Saturday evening versus the Aurora Diggers in a game that would determine the first place team in pool A. Aurora’s pitching came out firing as the Sting had a tough time making contact with their fast pitching. However, as the game proceeded, the girls found their stride and thanks to key RBIs from Gwen Doherty, Janey Harris and Madeline Thede, the sting were able to squeak out a 9 to 6 win to finish first in Pool A after a clean sweep of wins on Saturday. With the win, the girls advanced directly to the quarter finals on Sunday where they would face the winner from the La Salle Athletics and Mississauga Tigers game.
The quarterfinals proved to be a game of adversity as the Mississauga Tigers jumped out to an early lead of 9 to 2 after two innings of play. The Tigers extended their lead to 11 to 3 after the top of the third. That is when the Sting decided that it was their turn to put on the pressure. The third inning saw four key hits, led by a Double from Gwen Doherty combined with key walks seeing Sting cut the lead to 11 to 8 as they headed into the fourth inning. After Aurora scored one in the top of the fourth to extend their lead to 12 to 8, Saugeen got back on the bats and poured in five more runs to take the lead 13 to 12. The sting were down to two outs in the inning while still trailing by two when Peyton Myatt hit a two run triple to tie the game. With the lead heading into the final inning, the Sting squad dug deep and found a way to stop the tigers to win the game 13 to 12 to advance to the semi-finals.
The semi-final game saw the Sting come up against the Brampton Blazers U13 Senior team that proved to be an absolute barnburner from start to finish. The sting came out quick with an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after a double from Claire Parker scoring Lane Topham from 1st. Elliana Cameron took the mound to start the game, striking out all three Batters she faced in the first inning. After the Blazers scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead 4 to 1, the Sting continued to show their resilience as they headed into the top of the third and Janey Harris hit a single to lead things off and later scoring, thanks to an RBI from Penelope Martin to cut the lead down to 4 to 2.
Peyton Myatt took over the rubber on the mound, striking out six Batters while allowing only two hits and two walks over 3 and 2/3 innings in relief to quiet the Blazers bats. Myatt then went on to drive in two runs on an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game 4 to 4. Elliana Cameron started off the fifth inning with a single to right field and came around to score thanks to a line drive RBI single from Maelle Wiles to take the lead 5 to 4. With 2 out, Amelia Steele came through with a clutch single to later score Wiles to extend the lead to 6 to 4 as the team headed to the final inning. The bottom of the six saw the Blazers get base runners early, and with 2 out saw the winning run cross the plate in a heartbreaking 7-6 loss for the Sting.
Although they lost in the semi-finals, this U13 PWSA Sting team earned the right to hold their heads up high amongst these larger center teams. It might be called softball, but there is nothing soft about these ladies as they showed grit, determination and incredible strength of character all weekend long and we look forward to yet another exciting season of baseball.
Next up for this Sting team is a trip to Halton Hills the last weekend in May for their annual spring tournament!
