This Month's News
October2014

Laurier Softball Finishes 2nd

October 14, 2014

Waterloo, ON

It’s back to familiar territory for the Golden Hawks softball squad. With two wins over the Windsor Lancers on Friday night, the young Laurier team finishes in second place in OIWFA regular season for the first time since 2009. It was a battle for that coveted second place position heading into Friday’s action between the two teams and they certainly did not disappoint.


Not only did the two teams battle on the field in two great games but they were both part of a league-wide initiative to secure a safe environment for athletes to compete in, regardless of sexual orientation, partnered with the You Can Play Project which is an initiative headed by Calgary Flames President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke and son Patrick Burke. The OIWFA is the only university sport in Canada that has taken a league-wide stance to remove homophobia on their teams.
The Lancers opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a triple and an error to plate the game’s first run. The Hawks answered right back to that with one of their own as Amy Campagnolo (3-3, RBI) tripled to right field and was scored immediately after when Marissa Woodburn (2-3, RBI) singled up the gut. Once again in the next inning, the Hawks led off with a double off the bat of Rachel Warmington (2-4,RBI) and was singled by fourth year captain Alicia Helmond who went up the middle to give the Hawks the lead. Leading 2-1 in the fifth, the Lady Hawks would open the game up as Warmington once again opened the inning, this time when she blasted a home right to deep centre field. Kristen Van Den Neucker (1-3) followed up with a single and advanced on a pass ball to second. She scored right after when Campagnolo helped her own cause with a double to left field this time and the combination of her and Woodburn would once again combine for another Golden Hawks run. Campgnolo was lights out for Laurier on the rubber as she not only struck out 10 Lancers batters, she also had five put-outs of her own for the win. Hawks take game one 5-1.


In game two, the Golden Hawks got off to an uncharacteristic early lead. Knowing that second place was on the line, Monica Seth (1-2) led off with a single when the hot bat of Woodburn (3-3, RBI) doubled to left-centre and scored Seth who advanced on a pass ball. After the Lancers scored an unearned run in the top of the third, the top of the Golden Hawks order broke things open and never looked back. Campagnolo (2-4,RBI) singled to lead off and was sacrificed over to second by Nicole Gagnier when Alanna Hentges (1-2,RBI) walked. With two on, one of the many hot sticks for Laurier, Warmington stepped up and took full advantage of a pitch in her zone to double in the go-ahead run for the Hawks. Not done there, Van Den Neucker tripled an absolute shot to right field to score two more for Laurier, followed up but yet another double from Helmond (2-3,RBI). With a 4-1 lead in the fourth, Woodburn and Campagnolo seemed to be the match that destroyed the Lancers pitching staff as they would combine for two more Laurier runs. After a Woodburn single and Campagnolo double, Hentges also doubled and gave Laurier a little more breathing room against the third best offense in the league. Following up on her dominating performance last Sunday, Warmington was once again nearly un-hittable on the rubber for Laurier. She threw 7 strong, giving up no earned runs and striking out eight, her best on the season. The Hawks take the 6-1 victory, moving to 17-5 and secure second place in the 12 team OIWFA regular season.


The Hawks will now wait for the remainder of the regular season to wrap up before next weekend’s Provincial Championships in London at Stronach Park.  Laurier will play three round robin games followed by medal round play on Sunday. Full schedule and updates will be available on www.oiwfa.org
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