MONCTON, N.B. – The P.E.I. under-19 Eagles rebounded from an 8-0 playoff loss to the Nova Scotia One Stealers to earn a 9-8 extra-inning victory over the same team in the title game of the recent Eastern Canadian women's softball championship in Moncton.
Kaelyn White’s bases-loaded single drove in the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth. White finished the title game 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Anxious moments threatened to derail the game in the fourth after Eagles third baseman Kassie Birt fell while fielding a bunt and suffered a neck strain. She was taken to hospital, but was released and returned to P.E.I.
Eagles head coach Chris Halliwell said both teams were visibly shaken.
“Our whole team was in tears. After Kassie left we had a couple of minutes to gather ourselves, so I brought the girls in and just asked them not to let this be an excuse to pack it in and just keep battling,” Halliwell said.
Sydney Halliwell threw the complete-game victory and helped her cause with a 4-for-4 day at the plate, which included two doubles and two runs scored.
Eryn Hustler (3-5, three runs scored) and Emily Cairns (2-5, two runs scored) paced the Eagles attack.
P.E.I. vaulted to a 4-0 lead after three innings, but in the fourth Nova Scotia scored twice before Birt’s injury. When the game resumed, the Stealers scored three more for a 5-4 edge. Two more came across in the fifth, giving Nova Scotia a 7-4 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, Robyn Power scored on a hit by Cairns to cut the lead to 7-5. Then with two out, Halliwell's double to right field scored two Eagles runners tying the game 7-7.
Following a scoreless seventh, Nova Scotia’s Maddie Clarke, who played softball for Team P.E.I. at the 2017 Canada Games and with the UPEI Panthers women’s hockey team the past four years, smashed a home run to deep right field in the eighth for an 8-7 edge.
In the bottom the eighth, Sarah Murphy bunted Hustler and Cairns into scoring position. A Nova Scotia fielding miscue allowed Hustler to score and tie the game 8-8. Then the Stealers intentionally walked Halliwell to load the bases and force the out at any base.
But White’s hit to right centre ended the plan and gave the Eagles the win.
Rain cancelled Saturday’s games and forced the Eagles to play four straight games on Sunday.
“We entered our dugout at 9:30 a.m. and never left it until 7:30 p.m. Sunday evening, playing four games back-to-back-to-back-to-back,” Halliwell said. “Our girls never complained once. They just kept battling. (Assistant coach) Bobby (Power) and I are extremely proud of the effort these girls put in and happy to see them win after everything they had to deal with this weekend.”
P.E.I. finished 4-0 in the round robin earned a place in the double-elimination game where the winner went straight to the final and the loser to the semifinal. There the Eagles downed Nova Scotia Two 10-3 to reach the final.
The gold medal game was the third Eagles-Stealers game of the tourney and the win avenged the Eagles 9-5 defeat to them in the final of last month’s Lloyd Poirier memorial tournament in North River, N.S.
Emily Cairns earned the tournament’s top batter award, while Halliwell took home the MVP award.
Most of the Eagles will be chasing another Eastern Canadian championship this week on their home field when the under-19 championship begins Friday at the Central Field complex in Charlottetown.
