OTTAWA- Ashley Stephenson went 4-for-6 with a double, triple and four RBI to lead Ontario to a record seventh Women’s Invitational Championships gold medal with a 15-8 win over Alberta. The top of Ontario’s batting order was virtually unstoppable with Lindsay Wilcox going 2-for-6, Jenna Flannigan 3-for-5, Stephenson and Kate Psota 3-for-4. Together the foursome went 12-for-21, scored nine runs and drove in nine runs. Mena Florio allowed just two earned runs over 5.2 innings of work to earn the win as Ontario built a 3-run lead after one and had a six-run lead after five. Kelsey Lalor had two doubles, a triple and drove in three runs for Alberta in the loss.
Ontario has medalled in all Women’s Invitational Championship tournaments since the event began in 2006. The have seven gold, four silver and one bronze.
Bronze Medal: Québec 5 BC 4
Noemie Lapointe’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh scored Ann Sophie Lavallée with the winning run to give Québec a 5-4 walk-off win over BC and the Women’s Invitational bronze medal. Québec had taken a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning only to see BC score twice in the top of the frame which set up the walk-off win in the bottom half. The loss spoiled a complete-game bid for BC starter Claire Eccles who had three strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work while Daphnee Gelinas was credited with the win for Québec.
Kelsey Lalor tossed three scoreless innings on the mound and went 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBI to lead Alberta to an 11-2 win over BC in a semi-final contest. In the other semi, Autumn Mills threw a complete-game and Jenn Gilroy knocked in a pair of runs for Ontario in an 8-2 win over Québec.
