The Laurier Golden Hawks Softball team kicked off a busy three-day weekend with home games Friday night at Hillside Park against the visiting Guelph Gryphons. Guelph entered the series in second place behind the Golden Hawks and looked to take a run at first place.
Cassie Dollard started in the pitching circle for Laurier and held Guelph scoreless through the first two frames. Laurier got on the board first when Zoe Ramkalawan's sacrifice pushed Jules Merritt across to take an early lead. Guelph would answer back immediately in the top of the third with a pair of hits and a hit batter to give them a 2-1 lead. The Gryphons added another in the third to extend the lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Millie Blamauer tripled to drive in Ramkalawan and later scored on a Maddy Halstead single to tie the game at 3-3. In the top of the 6th, three Gryphon hits would take back the lead, 5-3. Lily Wynberg entered the game in the pitching circle for Laurier in the 7th and retired the Gryphons in order. In the bottom of the seventh, Ramkalawan led off with a single, and then Halstead walked. Two more walks got the Golden Hawks within one run when Jules Merritt drove a hard single to centre field to score two runs and give Laurier a 6-5 walk-off victory.
In Game two, the Laurier bats dominated as they struck for 17 runs on 17 hits led by three-hit performances from Natalie Donelle, Merritt, and Blamauer. Maryn Partridge picked up the win in the pitching circle, with Autumn Hachey providing an inning of scoreless relief in the 17-4 Laurier win.
Saturday, the Golden Hawks took to the road to take on Brock in St. Catharines. The Badgers came into the weekend tied with Guelph in second place, and were also looking for a chance to take over the top spot. The first three innings were a pitcher's duel as neither team could muster much offense. A leadoff walk and a pair of Laurier errors would prove costly in the 4th inning as Brock scored three runs. The Laurier offense struggled to put together timely hitting as, despite out-hitting Brock in the game, they were unable to put across any runs, falling 4-0 for just their second loss of the season.
Laurier remained scoreless through the first two frames of the second game against Brock. In the third inning, first-year player Chloe Vander Byl led off with a single, followed by a single from Natalie Donelle. A pair of singles from Amy Hughes and Jules Merritt combined with a Brock error to give the Golden Hawks their first lead in the series, up 4-0. Maryn Partridge was solid in the circle pitching for Laurier. Brock mounted a rally in the top of the fifth inning as a series of hits and two errors from Laurier had the bases loaded and the lead narrowed to 4-3. A line-drive double play turned by Hughes and Halstead ended the threat and kept the narrow Golden Hawk lead. The Badgers would get runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Laurier defense held and came away with an important victory to maintain the top spot in the standings.
Sunday was another road trip as the team headed to Hamilton to take on the McMaster Marauders. In Game one, Lily Wynberg started in the pitching circle for Laurier. The teams would trade runs in the first inning, followed by two scoreless frames. In the fourth, Laurier would add two runs on a single by Annika Pocock and a home run from Zoe Ramkalawan. McMaster answered in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-3 lead. Laurier quickly retook the lead in the top of the fifth as Amy Hughes hit a home run, followed by six more hits to put Laurier up 10-5 en route to an 11-6 final score.
In Game two, McMaster jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, scoring once. Laurier tied it in the bottom of the third when a Millie Blamauer lead-off single came around to score. In the bottom of the fourth, a pair of Laurier singles put runners on, and Olivia Faulhafer hit a home run to give Laurier a 4-1 lead. The lead would prove enough as the Golden Hawks went on to a 7-3 win, with pitcher Maryn Partridge moving to 7-0 on the season.
Laurier has another three-day weekend to wrap up the regular season, with home games Friday night vs. Western and Saturday vs. Windsor before finishing on the road in Guelph.
