The Palmerston Marlins Novice (U14) girls have qualified for the Eastern Championships in Stellarton, Nova Scotia on Aug. 20-25, after capturing the Ontario gold medal in Pickering on Aug. 4.
After a big rain on Aug. 2, the Provincial Women’s Softball Association (PWSA) canceled all games and pushed them back to Saturday morning. Arriving at the diamond at 6:45am, Palmerston took to the field against the host team from Pickering. Marlins won the game 10-2.
Next up was a hard hitting North Oxford team in a game that ended up being a battle of the long ball, with a final score of 18-14.
The Marlin’s next opponent was Cambridge, who they see in league play and have had good back and forth games with. Cambridge scored the first two runs in the top of the fourth inning and Palmerston came right back with two of their own in the bottom of the fourth, a score which held into extra innings, with the international tie breaker rule in effect – a runner starts the inning on second base and teams play from there.
Palmerston pitching shut Cambridge down in the top of the extra frame, and the offence scored the run they needed in the bottom.
Palmerston caught a small break as other teams played off to try to catch up the back log. With one diamond almost an hour behind and the other diamond 20 minutes behind the girls got a much-needed rest and time to regroup and focus on the next game, with the winner going straight to the finals Sunday afternoon, with an automatic berth in the Eastern Championships in Nova Scotia.
The Marlin’s next match was another round robin game against another league rival, Kitchener Classics. This was a back and forth game that featured plays at the plate, double plays and a home run and at the end of seven, another tie this time 7-7.
Kitchener got on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth with two runs. In their half, Palmerston loaded the bases with one out and got a three-run single to win the game.
The girls were now headed to not only a gold medal game, but also to Nova Scotia, regardless of what happened on Sunday at the diamond.
The Marlins headed into late Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 record and would have to be defeated twice – as the event was a double knock out and all other teams were sitting with one loss.
They faced the tough North Oxford team again – which had battled back and won all three of their games back-to-back-to-back on Sunday.
The Marlins were well rested and eager for the win and hit hard and fast right from the start and North Oxford was spent and could not put together the hits or the outs.
The Marlins mercied North Oxford 15-3 in five innings.
The Marlins will travel to Nova Scotia to represent Ontario in the Eastern Championships and the team is fundraising and accepting donations to help offset the travel costs.
Anyone interested in contributing is urged to contact any player or parent.
