Reds open with wins
Defending champs 2-0 after opening day of national senior women’s fastpitch championship
The Scotiabank Reds are off to a winning start at the Softball Canada national senior women’s fastpitch championship. The host squad for the seventeam tournament recorded a pair of 4-1 wins on Wednesday, defeating Ontario’s Port Perry Angels in their opening game, and the Quebec Rebelles in the final game of the day before a good crowd at Ellis Field.
The Rebelles lost their opener 4-0 to the defending champions, Whitby Senior Eagles, from Ontario. The Senior Eagles are 2-0 (won-lost) after opening day following a 12-1 victory over the Whitby Intermediate Eagles in their second game.
Opening game
A two-hit performance by shortstop Jada Yeo helped power the Reds past Port Perry. Alyssa Fleming pitched a complete game for the Reds, giving up one run on just three hits. She struck out five batters and walked five.
Earns save
Fleming also played a key role in the nightcap as she came on in relief of starter Emily Brothers in the top of the seventh inning. Fleming entered the game with runners on second and third and no outs, but managed to escape the jam to earn the save. Brothers gave up one unearned run and six hits in sixplus innings of work. Maddie Clarke went 4-for-4 and scored two runs to lead the Reds offensively.
Impact
The Island Impact, representing P.E.I., dropped their opener 9-1 to the Saint John Selects from New Brunswick in five innings. They lasted six innings against Port Perry, before bowing out 8-1 in an evening contest. Impact head coach Glen Kinney is counting on his team improving going forward. He admitted a lack of playing time this year was a factor in the team’s struggles.
First game
The Impact pulled starting pitcher Maggie MacIssac after she got in trouble in the fourth inning of the first game. The Angels scored all of their runs in that frame, and led 7-0 when MacIsaac was pulled. Jordon Havenga, went the rest of the way. In the evening game, Havenga started and MacIsaac finished.
Assured pitchers
Kinney said he assured his pitchers it was not their throwing that was an issue, acknowledging the team needs to tighten up its defence.
“Practice all the time and no game time, you get in situations where pressure’s on you, and you just don’t come through sometimes,” said Kinney. The Selects and the Whitby Intermediate Eagles are 1-1 after Day 1. The Intermediate Eagles win accounted for the Selects’ loss – a 10-7 decision – in the opening game of the seven-team round-robin tournament.