After many years of going to Niagara Falls to compete in the Slo-Pitch National (SPN) Provincial Championships, no Cornwall women's team had ever brought home the gold.
That all changed last weekend.
Cornwall's only women's slo-pitch team, Victorious Secret, claimed the Women's C provincial title.
"The majority of teams we play at this tournament, play together year-round in SPN leagues, but we don't have anything available to us here in Cornwall, so most of us play mixed three-pitch on different squads" said team captain Dominique Laroche.
Victorious Secret only plays a total of two to three slo-pitch tournaments all summer and then head to Niagara Falls every year for the tournament. Players on the team range in age from early 20s to mid 40s.
The team pounded their first opponent 20-0. A shut out in slo-pitch is almost unheard of. Victorious Secret outscored their opponents 95-23 in seven games.
"We're used to hitting 12-inch balls here in our mixed league, but this women's only tournament uses 11-inch balls, and we love hitting those," said Laroche.
With their toughest contest coming in the finals, playing against S.W.A.T. from Kitchener, Cornwall went into the bottom of the seventh inning clinging to a two-run lead.
S.W.A.T. had a runner on first and third, and no outs. Joanne St-Denis and Laroche turned a double-play to keep the runner stranded at third before a flyout ended the game- but not the celebration.
"We're so proud to represent Cornwall at this tournament which is heavily Toronto-based" said Laroche.
Next year Cornwall will move up to the B dvision which only featured 10 teams this year. Twenty-eight played in the C division at this year’s tournament.
The team also received a ticket to gplay at the National Championships in Kelowna, BC. But they will need to fundraise close to $15,000 to make this trip a reality.
