sabres repeat as wecssaa slo-pitch champs while saints fall in swosssa final
mcgregor – there’s something about the quiet confidence...
2 minute read
the sandwich sabres celebrate after capturing the wecssaa slo-pitch title on wednesday at co-an park after beating the leamington lions 12-9.
jim parker
/
the windsor star
mcgregor – there’s something about the quiet confidence of being the defending champions.
coming off anofsaa title a year ago, the sandwich sabres did not dominate regular-season play in the wecssaa slo-pitch league this season.
however, when the playoffs got underway, the sabres got dialled in.
“there’s (pressure) a little because we won last year and wanted to win again,” sabres’ pitcher/catcher emily crosby said. “we just handled the pressure.”
the sabres went unbeaten in the double-knockout playoff format and made it back-to-back titles after beating the leamington lions 12-9 at co-an park.
“i take pride in our team,” said sabres’ pitcher/catcher kyra smith, who saw her team finish 6-2 in the regular season. “what’s in the past is in the past and we locked in. we were pretty focused and we wanted to take it again and make it two consecutive.”
leamington, which finished a half game up on sandwich in the regular season, had to battle just to get to the final after a one-run loss to sandwich earlier in the tournament.
the lions needed an extra inning to upend the top-seeded erie migration coyotes 19-18 in the semis.
“it was scary,” leamington’s jadyn coates said. “our erie game, i was pitching, they had the tying run on third. it was so nerve wracking. i was scared.”
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in the final, sandwich jumped to a 5-0 lead after two innings, but the lions maxed out with six runs in the top of the third inning to take a one-run lead.
tied at 7-7 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the sabres plated two runs and never trailed again.
“sometimes, it’s just those little hiccups that happen,” said the 17-year-old coates, who had three hits in the final. “we have amazing defence, amazing hitting, it just didn’t come out this game as much as it did in the other games.”
crosby had three hits, a walk and drove in three runs for the sabres while pitching the first four innings. smith also had three hits and drove in two runs while throwing the final three innings for sandwich.
“it was hard because all of our seniors left, but then people stepped up,” the 16-year-old crosby said. “we bonded together and worked as a team.”
ursuline 4 st. anne 1
the st. anne saints fell 4-1 on the road in chatham to the ursuline lancers in the swossaa senior boy’s aaa soccer final.
ursuline jumped to a three-goal lead at the half and went up 4-0 before owen butler scored for the saints.
st. anne still has a chance to advance to ofsaa as the swossaa second seed. the saints will host chatham-kent golden hawks on friday in a challenge game for that second spot.
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