Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Lauren Sutton’s three-run, walk-off home run lifted the Napanee U16 Express ladies into the finals at the PWSA Tier II championship, held in Stratford, where they finished as silver medalists.
Down 8-5 against Mississauga North heading into the seventh of the semifinals, the Express chipped away to make it 8-7, when Sutton stepped up to the plate with two on, two out. She delivered, launching the ball over the fence punch the Express’ ticket to the finals.
Unfortunately for Napanee, they wound up on the other side of a walk-off in the finals, as the same Mississauga team battled back to reach the finals and defeated Napanee 5-4 to take the gold.
Napanee had opened the tournament with a 9-9 tie against the Cambridge Coyotes, followed by an 11-1 win over the Leamington Whitecaps in a game that featured Nikki Weese’s first career over the fence home run.
In their third game they met the same Mississauga North team they’d face in the semifinals and finals. Napanee took the first meeting, rallying from a 9-6 deficit to win 15-9. After the Express bats rallied, Payton Hutcheson took over from the pitcher’s circle and shut down Mississauga.
Napanee closed out the opening round with a 17-3 win over Peterborough and then topped the Oshawa Shamrocks 13-9 to advance to the semifinals.
Though not the result they were looking for, the silver medal was a result of a full team effort.