The Laurier Golden Hawks' women's softball team began it's 2025 season with a training camp in early August. The team, which qualified for the Canadian Collegiate Championships to be held in October, came into the season with high hopes to take a shot at both the national and provincial titles.

The team welcomed nine new players to the roster this season to complement the eight returning players from the 2024 provincial silver medal-winning squad. The new players include first-year players Abby Cooper, Honee Anderson, Sophia Christodoulou, Olivia Faulhafer, Zoe Ramkalawan, Courtney Cullerier, Jules Merritt, Kendal Rainey, and post-graduate student Emily Cox. Returning players include Lauren Artt, Hayley Shackell, Emma Diegel, Ansa Mian, Natalie Donelle, Olivia Shaddick, Maddy Halstead and Amy Hughes.
 
During the pre-season, the team played a series of exhibition games against Fanshawe College, Sheridan College, Durham College, and the University of Waterloo. The Hawks compiled a 5-1 record during these early games, including handing the reigning national champions Durham Lords their first loss in over a year, as the Lords had been undefeated in 2024.
 
The Ontario University Softball regular season began with a home opener against the Western Mustangs. The Mustangs enjoy a sizable lifetime advantage in wins vs Laurier, and unfortunately, that trend continued with Western taking both games 3-0 and 8-1.  The Hawks' bats, which had been solid during the pre-season, struggled, and runs were very hard to come by against the Mustangs.
 
The second series with McMaster began slowly offensively as well, as the Hawks failed to plate any runs through the first five innings. However, a series of McMaster walks, combined with a Zoe Ramkalawan single in the 7th inning, would provide enough offence for the Hawks to take the first game 5-2.
 
In the second game, the Mauranders would capitalize on a couple of costly Laurier errors to jump out to an early 6-0 lead. An Amy Hughes triple followed by a Honee Anderson single would get the Hawks on the board and cut the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the second. A lead-off double in the third by Ramkalawn and a Maddy Halstead single, followed by a Hughes home run, cut the deficit to 6-4. The teams would trade runs until the 6th inning when a bases-loaded Anderson single would give the Hawks their first lead of the game 10-8, which would hold, giving Laurier the sweep.
 
Laurier next headed to Guelph on September 13th to take on the Gryphons. Three hits from Halstead would lead the Hawks in the opener, and, combined with a one-hit, 14-strikeout performance from pitcher Emily Cox, gave Laurier a 5-0 victory.
 
Game two in Guelph saw the Gryphons jump ahead 3-0 with two runs in the third and a single in the fourth. The Hawks answered back in the bottom of the fourth with five straight hits punctuated by a two RBI-double by Kendall Rainey to give Laurier a 5-3 lead. That lead was short-lived as Guelph added two runs of their own to even the score at 5 in the top of the 5th. The score remained tied through the end of regulation, and the game headed into extra innings. A walk-off single by Courtney Cuillerier drove in Jules Merritt for the second straight sweep.

On Sunday, the Hawks returned home to take on the McMaster Marauders. The Hawks struggled to score runs in the opener, and combined with a couple of costly defensive errors, gave McMaster a 4-1 victory.
 
In the second game, both teams had limited offence through the early frames. McMaster would jump to a sizable 5-0 lead in the fifth inning off a series of Marauder hits and a couple of Laurier errors. However, with their backs to the wall with two out in the seventh inning, a Jules Merritt single would kick off a five-hit Hawks rally to even the score and send the game to extra innings for the second day.  A Lauren Artt double kicked off a four-run Hawks rally in the 8th to put Laurier ahead 10-6. McMaster would answer back with a single in the bottom of the inning; however, pitcher Hayley Shackell induced three Marauder fly outs to seal the dramatic come-from-behind victory.
 
Laurier heads to Windsor to take on the Lancers this Saturday before returning home Sunday for a rematch with Guelph.
 
To support the team on its road to nationals, you can donate through it's Adopt-A-Hawk page.