2010 Gateway Midget Gators Go Undefeated in Syracuse

The Guelph Gateway Gators Midget softball team participated in the 2009 Homerun Softball Fall College Showcase 18U in Syracuse New York this past Thanksgiving weekend coming home with 5 wins and no losses. 

The Gators defeated the Central New York Wildcats 9 - 4 in their first game.  Heather Ryder and Lyndsay Butler combined for the win, allowing 6 hits.  Jade McGarr lead the Gators with a double and a single, Jocelyn Hansen had a triple and Mackenzie Hunter had a double. Kyla Bunnaman, Leah Nakistas, Nikki Fulton,  Heather Ryder, Lyndsay Butler, Melanie Smith and Sierra McLaren each added singles.

Next game saw the Gators down the Rochester Thunder 10 - 0 with Butler and Nakitsas sharing the pitching duties allowing 2 hits each with 4 strikeouts for Butler and 2 for Nakitsas.  All Gators contributed with a hit each in this game with Alyssa Cantalini hitting a homerun and Hunter and McGarr chipping in with a double each.

Third game of the day saw the Gators defeat the Rochester Lady Lions 5 – 4 in a close game.  Nakitsas pitched 2 innings allowing only 1 hit.  Rachel Warmington came in relief for the win; she gave up 5 hits and had 1 strikeout.  Fulton lead the Gators with 2 RBI’s,  Cantalini chipped in with a double while Hanson, Butler, Hunter, Kelly Nancekivell, Ryder and Nakitsas each had singles.  The Gators turned a double play in the bottom of the 5^th to keep it a one run game before scoring 3 in the sixth to overtake the lead.

Sunday morning the Gators faced the STPS Ponies from Binghamton and won 9 - 4.  Heather Ryder pitched the first 4 innings allowing 3 hits.  Butler came in relief allowing no runs on 3 hits.  Leading the Gators with 2 singles each were McLaren and Fulton, Nancekivel added a double, Cantalini had a triple and Warmington hit a homerun to put the game out of reach.  Warmington and McLaren each picked up 2 RBI’s.

The last game of the day saw the Gators play the Wildcats again in a rematch and beat them again by a score of 7 - 1.  McLaren lead the Gators with a double and a single, Hunter had a double while Fulton chipped in with 2 singles.  Bunnaman had 2 RBI’s and Hansen and Nancekivell each added a single apiece.  Butler pitched 3 innings allowing 2 hits with 2 strikeouts.  Nakitsas pitched 4 innings gave up 4 hits and had 7 strikeouts.

Mites take Silver in Championship

The Mites entered the year-end Grand Valley Championship Tournament in Cambridge on a 4 game winning streak, having beat each divisional rival once.

The momentum continued in a wet weekend of ball with 4 more wins in the round-robin.

The championship game on Sunday was postponed due to rain and we ended up playing Monday night in Waterloo. Despite home field advantage Guelph got off to a great start and took an early lead. Waterloo battled back with great spirit and pulled off the gold medal win. Guelph earned their 3rd Silver of the season. 

Tournament results

Guelph  16  vs.  Cambridge  5

Guelph  19  vs.  Stratford  4

Guelph  11  vs.  Kitchener  4

Guelph  12  vs.  Waterloo  9

Waterloo  11  vs.  Guelph  8

Playing in the "Grand Valley Loop" was very enjoyable this summer. Our games were often quite challenging, our fellow coaches were always dignified and respectful, and the girls had loads of fun, especially with their post game "dance-a-thons".

Congratulations to Waterloo on a well-deserved victory, and best of luck to all our "Grand Valley Sisterhood" in the Provincials.

The Gators are now busy preparing for the much anticipated "Provincials", where they will be unveiling their new secret weapon, which will come to be known as, "The One,Two-Two Punch".

Gators (M) Midgets Provincials Bound!

Last weekend the Guelph Gateway Midget Gators competed in the Provincial Qualifying Tournament in Palmerston and came away with the Gold, going undefeated in the double knockout format.

Game 1 was against the top-ranked Windsor Lady Expos with the Gators coming out on top 8-7. Heather Ryder battled hard all game long to take the win on the mound. Guelph busted out to a six run lead, gave it all back and then scored two in the bottom of the sixth to win it. Ryder and Brittney Green both had a pair of singles, Caitlin Sunnucks had a double and a single. Sunnucks and Green both drove in a pair. Megan Laycock, Laura Doyle, Quinn Hall and Katie McColl all had singles.

Game 2 was a tough game against local Cambridge Coyotes. The Gators settled down on defense to record a 2-1 victory. Ryder was again on the rubber for the complete game victory, working extremely hard with backstop Britt Green to lead the team to the win. Gators got out front with two, a single by Laura Brown, who hit the ball hard all weekend, was followed by a bunt single by Ryder. Brown scored on a single by Mackenzie Hunter and Ryder followed her home on a clutch single by Laycock. After a long rain delay, Ryder shut down any comeback attempt by Cambridge.

Game 3 against Palmerston 91 Marlins saw the only two undefeated teams playing for the right to go directly to the gold medal game. Pitching and defence was the story in this game as it was played errorless by both teams with Gator pitcher Sunnucks giving up only one hit in the game for the Gators to win 4-0. Jenny Kennedy, Green and Sunnucks loaded the bases in the fourth and Quinn Hall drove in two to get the Gators all they needed. In the fifth, Hunter with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and was driven in on a Kennedy single.  The gold medal game against Palmerston 91 again saw the Gators win 8-3. Sunnucks again took the mound and the complete-game victory. The Gators pounded out 12 hits in this one.

The PWSA Midget Tier 2 Provincials begin on Friday, August 7, in Ancaster where Guelph will compete against 11 other Ontario teams for the Championship and the right to represent Ontario at the Eastern Canadians in late August in Quebec.

Mites improve to 14-4-1

The Mites played their last game of the regular season (still one make-up game to be played) beating Cambridge 15-3. Our three pitchers, Hailey, Sadie and Sarah were on their game with strong support from Allie and Kael behind the plate.

Once again, the girls were smacking the ball with 16 hits!

Sadie (4 runs) led the way with 2 singles, a double and a triple followed by Allie (3 runs) with a single, double, and a triple.

Dianne (3 runs), Hailey and Dakota (2 runs) each had a pair of singles. Taylor (1 run), Sarah (1 run) and Breanna (1 run) capped the slugfest with singles.

The girls will be busy preparing for the league championship tournament on August 8 and hope to squeeze in some exhibition games. 

Mites take Silver in Brampton Blast Tournament

The Mites had an amazing outing in Brampton on the weekend bringing home Silver in a field of ten teams.

Game results were:

Guelph  23  vs  Cambridge  8      Two HR's from Mikiella and one from Taylor

Guelph  9  vs  Brampton Jr  2      Strong start with 6 runs in first inning

Guelph  4  vs  Halton Hills  4       Very exciting game with HH tying in the final minutes

Guelph 17  vs  Windsor Expos  2  Tough 4th game of the day for a great spirited Windsor group

Guelph 2  vs  Oakville  8             Great comeback victory for Oakville after being down by 2

The girls played so well and there were numerous highlights. Our pitching was excellent in all five games. Our fielding was fantastic and included a couple of beautiful catches on long fly balls to the outfield that were very timely. The girls ran the bases well and made some dashing slides at home plate. We have such a strong hitting team and this weekend was no exception with the girls just pounding the ball.

Congratulations to a terrific group of coaches and players from Oakville on taking the Gold!

Everything seemed to come together this weekend and the girls are excited about the upcoming league championship tournament in Stratford on August 7.