ÎLE-PERROT, Que. - The Â鶹ÊÓƵeast Steelers, a women's fast-pitch team based out of Carnduff, have captured their first-ever Softball Canada national title.
The Steelers posted a perfect 8-0 record and won the national title with a 1-0 victory over Ontario's Oakville Angels. The tournament ran from Aug. 16-20 and was held at Île-Perrot, Que.
"It feels pretty surreal right now," said coach Darren Hubbard in an email to the Observer and Â鶹ÊÓƵ.ca. "I feel great for these ladies that put so much of their time and effort into the game and this team. I couldn’t be more proud of the way they carry themselves on and off the field.
"They play hard, respect the game, and have a lot of fun while doing it. They are a really tight-knit group. it’s a special group. They really did deserve the gold."
The Steelers have been competing at the national level since 2018. They made the jump to nationals after winning back-to-back Western Canadian championships in 2016 and 2017.
In their first two years at nationals, they finished fourth. The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the tournament returned in 2022. The Steelers finished second, thanks to a 2-1 loss to an Alberta team in the final.
As for this year, the Steelers punched their ticket to nationals after defeating teams from Saskatoon and Regina in provincials.
"We knew we had a team that was very capable of winning it right from the beginning of summer," said Hubbard. "We had come up just short last year, and felt we had improved enough that we had a real good chance to make that next step this year.
"Our bench was extraordinarily deep. The toughest part of the whole week was knowing you could only put nine players on the field. We had four ladies on the bench who would have started every game for all the other teams there."
The Steelers went 6-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament. They had a team batting average of just over .400 and an earned-run average (ERA) of 0.58. And they outscored their opponents 44-4.
In their first playoff game, the Steelers faced Team Quebec in the battle of the top two teams in the round robin, and the southeast entry won 3-2 to advance to the final. The Steelers won the game on a double play in which centre-fielder Karmen Twordik caught a long fly ball and then fired the ball to the third baseman, who applied the tag to an advancing runner for the final out.
In the final, the only run came in the bottom of the first in which Twordik scored on a single by Alexis Lucyshyn.
Lucyshyn pitched all seven innings for the Steelers and shut down Oakville, allowing just three hits over seven innings for the win. She was also named top player of the playoff round, as she gave up one earned run over 14 innings with nine strikeouts and an ERA of 0.29.
"Our entire pitching staff was excellent," said Hubbard. "Carmen Hughes, Alexis Lucyshyn and Brook Melnychuk dominated hitters all week long. In the eight games played, they gave up a total of four earned runs."
The defence was terrific, too, Hubbard said. It was led by Lyndsay Koscielski, who Hubbard said made some amazing plays at shortstop all week long. Twordik and Kim Vibert were strong in the outfield. Deanna Gerrard caught seven of eight games. Michelle Kukurudza and Katie Hengen had a platoon at second base.
Lucyshyn was named to the tournament all-star team as a pitcher. Twordik was selected as a top outfield, Gerrard was picked as top hitter and Kim Vibert was named tournament MVP.
