This Month's News
October2014
Laurier Softball Wins 3 of 4
October 9, 2014
Windsor, ON
The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women's fastpitch team moved to 15-5 on the season and remains tied for second place with the Windsor Lancers in Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Association. The Golden Hawks went 3-1 over the weekend and will close out the regular season against those very same Lancers this Friday in Windsor.
Saturday afternoon Laurier travelled to Hamilton to take on the McMaster Marauders who are fighting for the final playoff spot in the OIWFA. The Hawks started early and often in game one as freshman Kristen Van Den Neucker (2-3, 2RBI) led off the second inning with a single to right and was quickly cashed in from the bat of fourth year captain Alicia Helmond (2-3, 2RBI) who blasted a triple to left-centre. She would also score off a single to left from Amy Campagnolo (3-3, 2RBI). That same duo of Helmond and Campagnolo would be good for another pair of runs in the fourth inning as the Hawks led 4-0 early. The Golden Hawks continued with the offence in the top of the fifth with back to back singles from Alanna Hentges (3-3) and Rachel Warmington (1-3) who would score easily when Van Den Neucker blasted a triple to right field and a clutch sacrifice fly from Helmond gave the Hawks a 7-0 mercy win. A number of Laurier bats were soaring as Hentges and Campagnolo were both perfect, going 3-3, Helmond was 2-3 with two RBIs, and freshman shortstop Lyndsey Allingham was 2-3 with two singles. Campagnolo was lights out on the rubber pitching five shutout innings, only allowing two hits.
The Marauders came out and stunned the Golden Hawks in game two, never giving the Laurier squad who was searching for six straight wins for the second time this season an inch. Uncharacteristic errors on the defence and quiet bats led the Marauders to the 9-3 upset. McMaster scored two in the first, five in the second and would add two more later in the game and it was all too much for the Laurier offense to come back to.
Sunday morning the Golden Hawks were looking to rebound against the Brock Badgers in St Catherines. Game one was a back and forth affair won by the Golden Hawks in thrilling fashion. Brock opened with a 1-0 lead however the Hawks would answer right back with one in each of the second and third innings before blowing open a 5-1 lead in the fourth. Lauren Campbell (1-3) led off with a single followed by a walk from Marissa Woodburn as Warmington (2 RBI) stepped up and tripled deep into right field to score two followed up by the bigtime bat of Van Den Neucker who singled her in as well. The Badgers were pesky on Sunday morning and they came back with four of their own in the fifth inning to draw even with the Hawks. Nothing across would take the opener into extra innings when timely hitting and taking advantage of a key Badger error put the Golden Hawks in a position to steal the win. Campbell would sacrifice-bunt Emma Scanlon over to third for Woodburn who simply put the ball in play and Scanlon forced a throwing error from the Badger’s shortstop which gave Laurier the lead. Woodburn took advantage and moved up to second base on the play and was scored off a seeing eye single from starting pitcher Campagnolo who gave herself some insurance to work with in the bottom of the eighth. The Hawks played shutdown in the Badger’s half and squeaked out the 7-5 win. Helmond was 3-3 with the bat with an RBI and Campagnolo got her 11th win on the mound.
Fifth year pitcher Warmington was nearly perfect through six innings in game two throwing her best game of the season. Mixing speeds and locations saw her throwing a one-hitter going into the seventh. Laurier opened the scoring in game two with back to back doubles from Campbell (2-4) and Nicole Gagnier (2-3, 1RBI). Warmington (1RBI) would help her own cause with a sacrifice fly to score Gagnier for the 2-0 lead. Two more were added in the fourth as Helmond (2-3, 1RBI) blasted her fourth hit of the day scoring Van Den Neucker and was later scored from a single up the gut by Sheena Haines. The Badgers managed to score two in the seventh but it was too little, too late, suffering the two game sweep to the Golden Hawks.
Laurier will travel to Windsor to finish off the 22 game regular season in a one-on-one battle for second place in OIWFA action. The two teams will take part of a league wide You Can Play event, taking a united stance against homophobia in sport and both teams will sport a new look to educate the softball world to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation. Follow Laurier Softball on Twitter @LaurierSoftball
