REGINA, SK – The Durham College women’s fastball team earned a silver medal at the Canadian Collegiate Softball Association (CCSA) National Championship in Regina, Saskatchewan on thanksgiving Monday.

After going 4-0 during the first two days of the national championship, the Lords were finally defeated as they fell by a score of 10-2 to Western University in the gold medal game.

The silver medal performance gives Durham their highest placing at the fastball national championship, after winning back-to-back bronze medals in their previous two appearances.

“What a great accomplishment for our program,” said Durham College athletic director Ken Babcock. “Coach Nemish has worked hard on building a championship contender and winning a silver medal at the national championship is well deserved. I could not be more proud of the entire team and staff on how they represented the college and for all of the effort they put into the program.”

Playing against the two-time defending national champion Western Mustangs in the finals, Durham got out of the gate quickly as Janna Hagan drove in Melissa Semeniuk in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. However, Western would rebound in a big was as they scored five runs off of starter Kayla MacLean over the next two innings to go up by four.

The Mustangs would break things wide open in the fifth inning as they scored five runs off of Lords pitcher Kristine Miles, who came into the game in relief of MacLean. Durham had six errors in the game compared to only one by Western which turned out to be a big difference maker.

The Lords would score one run in the fifth inning but would end up leaving the bases loaded as the comeback fell short.

For the Mustangs, it was their third straight CCSA national title and fifth overall.

Durham’s Melissa Semeniuk and Samantha Officer were named to the championship all-star team following the tournament. Semeniuk finished with a .600 average with seven runs scored and two RBI’s while Officer batted .467 with two runs and five RBI’s.

The Lords earned a spot in the national championship game with a 5-0 victory over the University of Saskatchewan. The Huskies would end up winning the bronze medal with a 10-6 victory over the Humber Hawks.

This year was the Lords fourth appearance at the national championship.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.259.2825 (C)
905.721.3117 (F)